Love wins
by xxMiyuki5xx
Summary: After the Guild got back from Tenrou, Lucy and Laxus are slowly getting closer and closer, much to the displeasure of both their Teams.
1. The Betrayal

So I wanted to do a little oneshot, to have something as a sort of break from my other stories. But look, it seems that I can't write something short. So this will be a shortstory instead, with probably just a few more Chapters.

Somehow the little love story turned into something much more with betrayal and heartbreak everywhere.

* * *

After coming back from Tenrou, Master gave Laxus the task to help with the paperwork and after realizing that he isn't really good at it he searched for someone in the Guild to help him. One day he remember how Lucy was coming from a rich family and had probably some knowledge about filling out papers. So he asked her and after receiving a positive answer he gave her the assignment to help Laxus, of course he promised her some payment for her work. Lucy always needing some money to cover her rent, with Team Natsu you never know if they would have to give up the reward to pay for damages, agreed instantly.

Since the reason for her to do this is to help Laxus, Lucy got her own desk inside of his office. She helps him whenever he has questions and fills her own documents in the time between the questions.

Over the time they spend together in his office they slowly come closer. They talk while doing the paperwork and during little breaks. At lunch they split up to eat with their own Teams. And after lunch they go back together in Laxus office to work on the paperwork.

A few weeks after they started working together they became great friends. Of course they still spent much time with their own Teams, going on jobs with them or just spending time with them when the paperwork is finished.

As they slowly came closer and closer they started to eat lunch together to talk some more and sometimes they even sat together at the evening after finishing with their work for the day. This is something both, Team Natsu and the Thunder Got Tribe, noticed. And both groups don't like this development.

Team Natsu didn't like the fact that Lucy was spending so much time with Laxus since they are afraid of him hurting her someway if she would fall in love with him. They do know that he had changed after coming back but they know too that he never had a relationship before and is more the type for One-nightstands. They know of his reputation to never go out with a girl more than one time. And that is something they don't want to happen to Lucy. So they really don't trust him in this matter and they are thinking that he isn't good enough for their little sister.  
Furthermore they all just want to spent more time with her. Especially Natsu fears that Laxus will take his partner away, his Dragon instincts kicking in and telling him to protect what is his, even if he doesn't feel anything for her romantically.

The Thunder God Tribe has similar thoughts. They all are thinking that Lucy is not worthy. They know that she is a really nice girl and strong in her own way, but in their opinion she is still no match for their Leader, even though they all like her as a friend. The one who is the most against this is Freed, being very protective of his Leader. He fears that maybe Lucy is like the other girls who want to be with the powerful Lightning Dragon Slayer and are just after his money and fame. He thinks that since she is from a former rich family, Lucy maybe wants that back and the fastest way to accomplish this is to be with no other than his Laxus-sama.  
His other Team members doesn't beliebe that the sweet Lucy would do something like that but after seeing that Laxus spends more and more time with her and the way he looks at her, they start to believe Freed.

Both Teams wait for any change between to two of them, both hoping that they will stop spending so much time together.

Another week later they start to think about plans to get their Team member back. Both Teams sitting on their own table to discuss the different possibilities. That is until Natsu looks up at the second floor to the Thunder God Tribe. From his spot he was able to hear about what they were speaking and realized that they had a similar conversation as him, Happy, Gray and Erza. So he jumps up and runs up to them dragging his curious friends behind him.

A short explanation from Natsu they began discussing plans together, agreeing to work together this one time since they, in the end, have the same goal. Few days later they finally have found, in their opinion, the perfect plan. A plan where they think that nothing could go wrong and at the end they would have their friend back to themselves.

* * *

Lucy had just finished a mission with Team Natsu. They were on their way back to a hotel to stay the night in the city, surprisingly they didn't destroy as much as they usually did, so Lucy was in a really good mood. The rest of her Team decided that this was the best time to set their plan in to motion.

After dinner they sat together in their rooms and were just talking about random things until Erza makes the first step.

"Say Lucy, what is there going on between you and Laxus? I noticed that you two started to spent more time together these last weeks." Lucy looks surprised at her friend, asking herself where this question ist coming from so suddenly. "Well yes, while working with him I realized that he is in fact a really nice guy. We have become great friends!", she smiles brightly at Erza, thinking about her talks with Laxus. All three frown at this. "Are you sure that he is a nice guy and not just taking advantage of you?", Gray speaks up. "Taking advantage? Why should he do something like that? And what for?", Lucy asked slightly shocked. "Hmm, well. It's just... You are such a nice girl... You're helping him with the paperwork so he could just being nice to you so he won't have to do all the work alone. And maybe he is just making the best of this situation with you in his office and hoping for a little One-nightstand with you. We all know of his reputation after all.", Gray continues.

"Yes, I fear that Gray might be right Lucy. Are you really sure that he is being honest with you and not just making the best out of the situation?", Erza adds before Lucy has the chance to reply to Gray. Lucy slowly getting irritated with her Team speaks up, "What do you think you are doing here? What brought this up? Where do you get the right from to judge him? He has nothing but being kind to me. And after he has started to slowly open up to me I got to see a whole different side to him!" "But are you really sure about this Lucy? We just don't want him to hurt you!", Erza voices out while looking Lucy directly in the eyes, somehow urging her to realize that they were right.

Lucy now angry with this conversation stands up, "Of course I am sure? What is wro..." "Luce...", Natsu interrupts her. The way he says her name and looks at her makes her stop. "Luce.. I am really sorry to say this but Erza and Gray are right. I really didn't want to say this but I heard him talk about you to his Team before we left for our job. And what I heard..." "What, what did you hear him say?", Lucy looks at him narrowing her eyes, but despite her anger at her Team, worry started to slowly arise. "Well... He laughed at something they asked him before saying that he never would be interested in a little and weak girl like you. Furthermore he told them that he just wanted to get in your pants for the fun and that's the reason he has been so nice to you. He thought that if he was nice enough to you, maybe you would agree to a friends with benefits relationship, so that you both can let out some pent up frustration inside his office. During the whole time he had this arrogant smirk on his face. After telling this his friends they to just laughed.", Natsu sets the final part of their plan in action.

Lucy just stands there completely shocked, not believing what her Natsu just told her. That can't be right, he must misheard Laxus, there is no way the Laxus she got to know would say something like that. "No... Natsu... there... there is no way... no way that you heard him right! You must be wrong! That... that can't be right...", Lucy's voice quivers as tears slowly drop down her face.

The three look at her with sad eyes, hating themselves for doing this to her but still believing that they are doing the best for their dear friend, after all they just want to protect her. As much has Natsu hates do to this he continues, "I'm sorry Luce, but I am completely sure that this is what he said. There is now way that I misheard them with my Dragon Slayer hearing. I am really sorry!"

At this Lucy begins to sob, falling to the floor were she holds her knees and hugs herself. She feels completely heartbroken, after all she was on her way to completely fall in love with the man who apparently thought so little of her. Her friends looked just as heartbroken at her. They sat down next to her on the floor an end up in a big group hug. Even though they all know that they truly hurt her with their lies they believe this is for the best. They are sure that she will get over this fast and then be finally back completely on their Team, with no Laxus stealing her away or possible really doing what they just told her.

Lucy loves her Team but all these feeling are just to much for her right now, she needs to get out of there and be alone.

"Hey guys, I will go out a bit a.." "Alright, we will accompany you, Lucy!", Erza interrupts her. "No! I'm sorry but I really need to be alone right now. If something happens, I still have my Keys and whip.", after her little outburst Lucy untangles herself from the group hug and leaves the room.

Natsu being the dense idiot he sometimes is still wants to follow her to protect her but luckily Gray stops him, he has realized that Lucy needs her time right now.

As Lucy wanders around the time she wonders how she could misinterpret his behavior so much. Finding a nice spot at the park she lays down and looks at the stars, hoping that they somehow would help her, even if she knows that there is nothing they can do in a situation like this.

Feeling the mood of his Key holder already quite some time, Loke is finally able to open his own Gate. Lucy had forcible hold is Gate close, but is no longer able or willing to do so.

"Oh Princess, what happend?!", Loke asked immediately as he sees her state. Puffy red eyes, tears, she can't seem to stop, still escaping her eyes and looking at the stars with emotionless eyes. He settles down next to her and waits for her to start speaking.

When Lucy feels that she is ready she tells him what just happend, after telling him everything she looks at him with hopeful eyes, wanting Loke to tell her that this is not true and just a bad dream.

* * *

At the Guild the Thunder God Tribe had a similar talk with Laxus. They told him about there fears that Lucy is just after his money, Laxus just waved this of, telling them that this is not like Lucy. They discussed a while with Freed saying nothing until, like Natsu, he drops the final straw to bring his trust to waver.

"Laxus-sama, I didn't want to tell you this but seeing that you are so protective of her I have no other choice but to tell you. I have lost count of the times, I heard Lucy speak about her money problems, whining constantly about her rent and other things. Just before she left with her Team on their mission they told him that soon she will not need to fear about this any longer, that she will soon have you wrapped around her finger so that you will do nearly anything for her. Even buy her anything she wants. Furthermore she boast about how she tamed "The Laxus Dreyar" and will use his fame to boost her own fame. So I have all the reasons to believe that she is, like all the other women, just after your money and reputation.", Freed speaks up.

"Wha.. What? No Freed! Lucy would never say something like that! You must have misheard or something like that! I have come to know Lucy and she would never say say something like that, after all she doesn't care about money, otherwise she wouldn't have run away from home!", Laxus comments, defending Lucy, even though he can't stop the small spark of doubt.

"I am truly sorry, Laxus-sama, but I am completely sure that this is what she said. I am sorry but I believe you are wrong about her and she misguided you to trust her so that she will get what she wants from you."

Laxus looked completely crestfallen, how could she do this to him? She was always such a nice girl, he thought that with her he had found a woman he could fall in love with. He realized in his time away from the Guild that he doesn't want to do the constant One-nightstand anymore, he want to find someone he can saddle down with. And Lucy was the girl he thought could be the one, they have spent so much time together and while getting to now her better she slowly crept her way into his heart. He knows that it's not love right now, but he too knows that he probably would have fallen for her very soon.

The Thunder God Tribe sees the emotions flicker on his face, they all feel a bit heartbroken to do this to their Leader but it needs to be done. They all hate to use his trust in them against them but after all this is for the best and he will soon get over this.

After the shock and hurt came the anger, how could she?! How could he fall for a little act?!

Laxus stands up and leaves the Guild, leaving the Thunder God Tribe behind as he turns into lightning and flashes away. He lands at his regular training place and there he lets his frustration, anger and mostly his hurt out with a roar. He lets his magic loose and attacks everything around him. As he has no magic left he falls panting to the ground, now that all his anger is gone just the hurt remains. He clenches his fist and touches his chest, wanting this feeling to get away. He feels so heartbroken and can't stop the tears escaping his eyes.

Noticing the tears, Laxus wipes them angrily away. He glares as his wet hand before standing up once again, letting loose one last powerful attack while roaring out his anger.

Farther away from Laxus current location the Thunder God Tribe stares at the flashing and hears his roars. Their hearts break a little further and they all hope that they didn't just make a huge mistake.

* * *

Before Lucy and Laxus fall asleep they both came to a conclusion about what to do next. But sadly, as they will realize soon, they both came to a different conclusion. In fact, they have quite the opposite ideas what to do next.


	2. Time

On with Chapter 2, I hope you all like it.

* * *

Lucy made sure to wake up before the rest of her Team is up.

She gets ready as fast and quiet as possible before leaving the hotel, a note sitting on the table.

Outside of the hotel Lucy practically runs to the train station, just stopping shortly to buy a small breakfast, and takes the next train back to Magnolia.

Lucy knows that Laxus is most days early in the Guild, she hopes to catch him alone, to talk with him. She still held some hope that Natsu misunderstood him. She settles in an empty compartment and starts her breakfast.

* * *

Laxus wakes up early like every morning. He goes through his normal morning routine, but suddenly stops as he remembers that Lucy probably will be back later today from her job. He thinks one more time about his way of action and if this really is the right thing to do. But in the end he stays firm with his decision.

* * *

An hour later Lucy arrives back in Magnolia, instead of going home to unpack her things first she goes straight to the Guild. She can't really decide how she should feels right now. Angry? Sad? Hurt? Betrayed?

With all these different emotions flickering through her she arrives at the Guild, there she tries to set her face to a stoic mask before going in. She goes straight up to Laxus office and enters without knocking, not in the mood for manners at the moment.

"Laxus! Can we plea..", she starts, hoping to say as much as possible before he interrupts her. But the glare he sends her, is enough to stop her.

Laxus was really hoping to avoid this but it seems that he has no other choice, "Leave! I don't want to see or hear you right now! Just get out of my office! I don't want to hear what ever you have to say to me, there is really no reason why I should listen to you!", he levels her he deadly glare before locking back at his paperwork as if nothing had just happend.

"Laxus? Wha...", once again Lucy is interrupted. "Out! Now!", Laxus growls out through gritted teeth.

Lucy stood there, eyes wide open, not knowing what to do. It seems that her Team was right. His behavior right now just proves it. Lucy couldn't believe it, she trusted him and now he is right this? Did he realizes that his plan to get in her pant won't work and is now showing his true self?

Tears are slowly building in her eyes, before on of them can drop down in front of Laxus she turns and runs out of his office and the Guild. Outside she runs a bit farther until she falls down and finally let the tears escape. She cries and cries, all her hope broken.

Like yesterday Loke appears to speak with her, feeling her mood. Seeing her state, he takes a hold of her and carries her to her apartment. He settles down with her on his lap at her couch and waits for her to speak. She once again tells him what happend, but this time there is nothing Loke can say to make it better, Lucy having seen Laxus behavior with her own eyes.

As she finished Loke asks her, "What do you want to do now?" "I think I will go away for a bit. The Grand Magic Games will start in a few months and Master planed to send us at the end of this month to train anyways, so I will start a little earlier and alone. Maybe some time alone will help me to get over Laxus and when I come back, I will be able to face him again. Right now I just can't bear the thought of seeing him." Loke looks at her, wanting to know if this really is what she wants to do, seeing the look in her eyes he nods and stands up, "Call Virgo to help you pack and store you belongings in the Celestial World, I will go to the Guild to speak with Master so that there is no chance for you to see Laxus once again."

* * *

Laxus sat in his office, wondering if he really did the right thing by not even letting her speak. He thought that he could smell tears for a moment but before he could check it out by looking at her she was gone and with her the slight smell of salt.

He just sat there, staring at his paperwork, not really seeing anything. Maybe he did make a mistake, but he is so angry! And hurt! Angry and hurt, that she would really say something like that. And angry at himself for falling for her tricks.

No, he decides, he made no mistake. This conversation couldn't lead to anything good, only more hurt and anger. It's good the way it is now, a clean cut. He hopes that she won' show up again anytime soon. He would have to talk with his Gramps about doing the paperwork alone from now on.

He would miss their time together in his office.. Before his thoughts can go any further, he stops and brings out his anger to drown out them out.

Determined to forget all about her and their time together he starts with the paperwork, doing his damnedest to distract himself.

* * *

Around the time Lucy arrives at the Guild the rest of her Team slowly wakes up. All looking around confused as they can't see Lucy. Standing up in a haste, fearing something happened to her, they see the letter at the tables. Erza ist first to arrive and grabs said letter before reading it out loud, "Hey guys, sorry that I left without waking you up. But I wanted to speak with Laxus as soon as possible and that was just something I had to do on my own. I will see you later when you all arrive back home. Oh and try not to destroy anything with your fights Natsu and Gray!"

As the words finally register in their minds they panic, having not anticipated that Lucy still wants to talk to after all they told her yesterday. They get ready as fast as possible and just jumps in the trains before he leaves. They hope that by some miracle, Lucy had gone home first before going to speak with Laxus.

If she and Laxus would speak with each other and find out that they were lied to... They all shiver, not wanting to know what would happen to them. Why did none of them think about the possibility that they could talk to each other?!

Arriving in Magnolia they split up, Erza and Gray going to the Guild to search for Lucy and stop her from talking with Laxus and Natsu and Happy to her apartment to speak there with her.

None of them had any luck in finding her but Natsu and Happy did find another letter, a letter a which they are still staring as Gray and Erza arrives at Lucy's apartment. As neither Natsu nor Happy reacts to them Erza rips the letter from Natsu's hands to read it out loud again.

"Hey guys, it's me again. Now I am even more sorry than this morning but I couldn't bear the thought off seeing Laxus anytime soon. I thought about it and came to the conclusion to start my training for the GMG earlier and alone. Loke spoke with Master about this and he approved so don't worry. Of course I will come back in time to participate at the GMG. Or at least watch the Games in case I won't be chosen for the Team. But I will give my best in this training to become stronger and then participate. Maybe I will even meet up with you guys at some point, when I feel like I'm doing okay. Right now I just need to be alone to think about all what happened. Again I am sorry for leaving but I saw no other option. We will see each other before the Games start or sooner, be safe and train just as hard as me. Your Lucy."

Now Erza and Gray stood there just as frozen as Natsu and happy. They couldn't believe how hard their plan backfired on them. Instead of having more time with her and her being away from Laxus, they got even less times with her and she is away from everyone. Not to forget that they were the ones who hurt her so much, that she got the feeling that she needs to get away, not only from Laxus but from everyone else too.

They stand there until something in Natsu clicks and he springs to action, "We need to follow Luce. I need to protect her! What if she needs us and we aren't there?!" "Natsu calm down this instant! As much as I want to follow her too, we need to give her the space she wants. We truly hurt her with our lies after all and she needs time to work through her emotions. All we can hope for is that she will be safe. And that she will get over it fast and come back to us, we need to believe in her!", Erza stops Natsu.

Natsu pouts and wants to contradict but Gray's question stops him from doing so. "Did we really do the right thing? Maybe we should have done this differently..." "All we can do now is believe that we did the right thing for Lucy. After all, we did all if this to protect her, she will understand this and see that Laxus is no good friend for her. ", Erza answers Gray, but even to herself she doesn't sound very convincing.

"I miss Lushy! Why did you have to do this?!", Happy screams before flying out the window, leaving the other three shocked behind. "Happy!", Natsu screams behind him, but Happy doesn't even turn around. These whole last weeks Happy didn't say much, they just assumed that he agrees with the plan, but maybe he just didn't want to say anything against them. Natsu slumps down, along with the other two, there say sat, just shocked and sad at the floor, not knowing what to do next. But all still hoping that in the end the plan will work out.

* * *

The Thunder God Tribe on the other hand was at the Guild the morning when Lucy arrived. But Lucy was to fast for them to stop, before approaching Laxus office. They crept close enough to the office to maybe hear what they are talking about, realizing, just like Team Natsu, that when they truly talk the whole thing could go wrong.

But to their luck they don't talk. They hear how Lucy starts and their hearts break a bit for the poor girl who doesn't know what is going on. Then they hear Laxus response, if you want to call it like that, and are happy that their Leader reacted they way they calculated. They hear how Lucy tries to speak up again and then how Laxus growls, they feel bad for Lucy thinking that Laxus will probably shock er any moment.

A moment everything is quiet, and then Lucy runs past them. They see her tears, but they are more concerned about Laxus then her, after all they wanted her away from him. And it seems they got exactly what they wanted, the plan was a success!

With the look on Lucy's face and the way Laxus spoke to her she will probably never approach him again. They finally have their Leader back and don't have to fear that Lucy will turn against him and hurt him. This is after all their purpose as Laxus bodyguards, divert every possible threat, before it can reach him.

Happy that their plan worked they go back to their table, at the moment not really caring what will happen to Lucy as long as she won't comes close to Laxus again. They mark the plan as a success and are eagerly awaiting their more time with him.

At their table they all sat down and began to animatedly talking with each other, completely missing that Loke arrives and goes straight to Masters office, with a grim expression on his face and a hateful glare directed at Laxus office. They too did miss as Loke leaves the Guild again, still looking very upset.

A few minutes after Loke leaves the Guild again Master Makarov leaves his office, his face showing a similar expression to Loke. He was just told that one of his brats will leave earlier for her training, and that all alone, because something happend that made her believe she needs to get away. To the displeasure of Master, Loke wouldn't tell him what happend. In the end he had no choice but to give his permission, but not without a promise from Loke to report back to him from time to time so he knows that Lucy is alright.

* * *

The next day Laxus decides that it's time to tell his Gramps that he will work alone from now on. Knocking at the door he enters.

"Gramps, I came to tell you that I will be working alone from now on on the whole paperwork.", he turns to leave but stops shortly as Master answers him with something slightly unexpected. "I already know that, brat. Lucy is go...", he starts but is interrupted from Laxus who doesn't want to hear anything about Lucy at the moment. "Alright, I go now working on some more of that crap. I know that we all will leave in two weeks to train for the Grand Magic Games. You know that in the meantime while I am away you will have to do the paperwork?", Laxus asks to distract his Gramps. And it works, Master immediately pales and mutters something about evil brats who always destroys stuff and piles on piles of paperwork.

Taking this moment to leave the office, Laxus returns to his own, fully intended on immersing himself once again in paperwork to distract him from Lucy.

Around noon he realizes that the work in his office just remembers him constantly about his time with her, so he slams the last finished paper on a separate pile before standing up and leaving his office.

As he stands on the balcony he looks shortly over the Guild, he noticed Team Natsu in a corner moping around with no Lucy in sight. Not paying really much attention to the fact that Lucy is not there, probably at home anyways and to ashamed of her own actions to go to the Guild and see him, he goes to his Team to takes them on a short job. He hopes that the fighting will distract him enough from Lucy and that he will be able to let out some anger on his poor opponents. Furthermore, doing missions is one thing he never did with Lucy, so there is no way that he will be reminded of her.


	3. Training

Here comes finally Chapter 3, I have never before written such a long Chapter. And it became more and more I wanted to write and later and later.

I hope that there aren't to many mistakes cause it's like 3:30 a.m. right now.

This Chapter is so long because I wanted to write their time apart in one go and be over with it as fast as possible but still show you how they are feeling while being separated.

* * *

 **First two weeks:**

Her first two weeks Lucy traveled across Fiore, she was searching for more Keys. Along the way she meditated every morning and night with the help of Capricorn to expand her magic containers. Loke started with some running and a few exercises to build up her strength. The plan was to prepare her body for the hard training for the time she is finished with searching for more Keys.

In total Lucy found five new Silver Keys, three in magic shops and two by pure chance along her way. One other thing she bought was a new Key ring, which stopped other people from taking her Keys.

As the two weeks were over Lucy already felt that her magic increased, she was able to hold her Keys open for a longer time and for a short time to hold open two simultaneously. Another change she felt was the increase in her stamina, it wasn't much but a good start.

Right now she is searching for a camping spot in a forest with Loke at her side since Capricorn instructed her to call a Gold Key each day after lunch and to hold the Gate open as long as possible to further expand her magic containers.

Lucy just wanted to ask him something when they step into a rather large and beautiful clearing with a lake in it. "This is it! Don't you think this place is perfect Loke? I can set up camp near the lake, run my laps around the whole clearing, we have enough space to train other things and I have the lake to bath!", Lucy turns to Loke with sparkling eyes, hoping that Loke won't turn down this place like the other ones before. "I think you are right, Princess. I know that you already had my Gate open for a long time but try to call out Virgo to bring you your bags and help to set up camp."

Calling out Virgo took a huge toll on her magic reserves. After only fife minutes, just enough time for Virgo to set up camp, Lucy reached her and and needed to send her Spirits back. Lucy, knowing that she won't be able to do much more right now, due exhaustion, takes a relaxing bath in the lake. There her thoughts once again returns to Laxus, like all the other times when there is nothing to distract her.

She missed their time together, the talking and even the annoying teasing from Laxus. Her thoughts circle about what Natsu told her he heard and the way Laxus acted towards her when she wanted to speak with him about it. She still can't believe that Natsu really heard Laxus say something like that about her. She thought Laxus was over his power hungry phase and won't thing of his Guild members as weak anymore. In their talks he never gave her a reason to think that he thinks inferior about her. In fact she always felt rather good with him and in some instance even equal. She knows that she is far away from his level of strength but she thought Laxus understood how much magic it takes to open Celestial Gates. Would she have some Castor-Typ-Magic like the rest of her time she probably would be at the same level as Natsu or Gray, but since her magic isn't so 'flashy' most people think that she is somewhat weak in comparison to them. In their talks he would sometimes ask her about her magic and she gave him a brief explanation and told him how much magic she really has. So how comes that he still thinks that she is weak?!

Further more Laxus confided in her that he was trough with the constant One-nightstands.

All this gave her the reasons to think that Natsu somehow misunderstood Laxus. Why should Laxus lie to her about his habits to just do One-nightstands and why should he think that she is weak when she explained him how much magic she really possessed? That's way she wanted to talk with him, you can see how this worked out...

His behavior towards her on that day hurt deeply, somehow this convinced her more than anything her friends told her. But as much as that hurt she can't stop thinking about him and is still hoping that all this is just a bad Dream. She really hopes that the time away will help to lessen the pain and that she will be able to forget him.

* * *

As Laxus comes back from his short mission three days later he feels slightly better, to be able to let his anger out on his opponents helped just how he hoped it would. The whole time away he tried his best to not think about Lucy and for the most time it worked.

When he enters the Guild on the fourth day he immediately notices that Lucy is not there again, this betters his mood further. As he enters his office Laxus has a feeling that something is off about it but can't define whats wrong.

The next days are practically the same, there is something wrong about his office but he just can't figure out what it is. Every time he leaves his office he looks over the Guild and every time he notices that Lucy is still not there. After a while even the Guild hall feels different.

After one week is over and Lucy is still no where to be found, his happiness about her absence slowly turns to worry. But every time he begins to worry about her he would think about what his Freed told him and his anger would come back.

At the end of the first week he takes his Team to another short mission and is two days later back.

The feeling of uneasiness inside his own office is now stronger than ever before. As he comes to the Guild the next day he finally finds out whats been wrong the whole time. The scent inside the Guild and especially his office has changed. To be more specific, the scent he identifies with Lucy slowly becomes less and less detectable.

Since the time Lucy came to the Guild Laxus could smell a very calming and pleasant scent. But he never knew from where this scent came until he and Lucy began to work together in his office. Laxus always loved her scent of strawberry and vanilla.

And now this scent is slowly vanishing from his office. Laxus don't really knows what to think about it. On one side this is something good since now he won't be constantly reminded of her. But on the other the side, the more the scent vanishes, the more he feels the need to get it back, the uneasiness growing with each day.

Three days before they all leave to train he can't enter his own office, for a longer period of time, anymore without a slight panic attack over the missing scent. So the most time these days he spends with his Team at their usual table. The Guild is a little better since there are so much more scents but even there he feels unease. He would constantly look to Team Natsu and always hope that Lucy would show up even though there is no reason for him to look. His nose is now completely focused on this scent and he would smell her long before he would see her.

Another thing he notices is that the feeling inside the Guild is different. The Guild somehow lost their 'light' or at least his light. With her there everything somehow seemed brighter, this of course he only notices now that she is gone. Oh how he misses her, but this he would never admit to anyone, not even to himself.

Laxus reached a point where he wished that he would have just let her say what she wanted to. He trusts Freed to never lie to him but maybe he misunderstood her somehow and all of this could have been avoided. Maybe she would be here and not who knows where. He wished that he would have let his Gramps say about Lucy and not just interrupt him because of his anger. Maybe when he would have let him speak, he would at least know why she isn't there.

The only relief he feels is when he goes by her apartment after the Guild and can take a whiff of her scent. The first day it was enough for him, to be able to relax slightly, to just go by. The second day he had so stay longer, he stood out side and breathed deeply, trying to take as much as possible of her scent in, before leaving again. The day before they all left to train he stood outside of her apartment for a good half hour, but even this was not enough for him. Laxus was tempted to enter her apartment but he didn't give in his urges to smell more of this heavenly scent.

That night he lies in his bed and can't fall asleep. And he knows exactly why, but he refuses to let Lucy tamper with him anymore. This constant thinking of her and missing her can't go on like this, not when what Freed told him is true. And there is no way that Freed is wrong, he decides that night.

The next day he caves in and goes a last time to her apartment, there is this little voice inside of him that he needs to smell the scent of her. Today stronger than ever before, so he reluctantly enters her apartment. As soon as he takes a step inside he is bombarded with her scent and instantly relaxes. He didn't even noticed before how tense he was. Laxus just stands there and bathes in this heavenly scent, he can't get enough of it. He stands there for hours and just breathes deeply, feeling with every breath he takes a little bit better. There is still this nagging feel that something is missing but for now he ignores it.

Around two hours later Laxus remembers that he will meet up with his Team soon. So as much as he wants to stay there in his little heaven, he know that he needs to leave. Laxus contemplates if he should take something from her with him. When he realizes what exactly he is doing he gets angry with himself.

Not only did he break his resolve to not go there anymore, he is currently really considering to take something from her to can smell it when ever he wants.

Furious he leaves the apartment as soon as he realizes this and flashes to the meeting point. To get the feeling as if he just lost something out of his head, Laxus once again brings the memory of the conversation with his Team to the front of his mind. Everything is better than to feel like this.

* * *

The Thunder Legion too, noticed that Lucy didn't came back to the Guild after running out. They thought about to ask Team Natsu but decided against it.

Now that the plan worked for them they didn't want to raise any suspicion in case Laxus sees them talking and maybe even hears them. They just enjoyed their time with Laxus, but soon noticed that there is something different about Laxus. He seems to be more angry, this is understandable for them but they never thought he would be this angry for such a long time.

They often see how he looks around the Guild and how his nose wrinkles as if to catch a scent, this they can't explain themselves.

As the days pass by and Lucy still didn't show up again and all from Team Natsu are looking depressed, the Thunder Legion realizes that Lucy must have left. At first they believe that this had something to do with Laxus and her running away in tears but they quickly dismiss this thought. They still believe that they saved Laxus from a potential betrayal from Lucy herself, so there is really no reason, in their opinion, why this should have hurt her so much that she needed to get away.

Another thing they noticed was that Laxus became more restless, but they just thought that this had something to do with the paperwork and him sitting in his office for hours. For that reason it's understandable that he spends decreasingly time in his office. They believe that as soon as they leave to train he will become more calm, since he is finally free from his office and the paperwork.

* * *

 **First month of training for everyone:**

The first month of her training Lucy uses mostly to increase her magic, but of course she continuous to ran her laps and train her body and Loke started to show her some hand-to-hand combat moves.

After lunch she has a little break and in this break she calls out two Spirits at the same time to see how long she can hold open two Gates simultaneously. Which Spirit she calls differs everyday, she tries out many options, two Silver Keys, two Gold Keys and one Silver and one Gold Key. Of course this is still some sort of training but Lucy uses that time to bond more with her Spirits. They would talk about different things, but often they talk about their abilities and how Lucy can use them best in a battle.

Her Spirits decided to give her a present in the middle of every month, one reason being to reward her for the hard training and the other reason being to help her. The first present she got, contained a pair of fingerless gloves, new boots and sunglasses. The gloves gave her the ability to power up her punches with Regulus, the boots increased her strength and the sunglasses increased her speed. So after the first half of the month was over they added the use of her presents to the training.

Every time Lucy is alone and has nothing to do, her thoughts would once again turn to Laxus. She still misses him but she tells herself that the feeling becomes less everyday. So to not think about him she dedicates herself completely to her training, determined to get stronger and show everybody who thinks that Celestial Magic is weak how wrong they are.

All of her Spirits are really proud of her, they all can see how much she had grown in this short period of time. Of course they have noticed how she sometimes is deep in thoughts and has this sad expression on her face but Loke explained to them what happened with Laxus. So they all refrain from talking about it with her, not wanting to further remind her of him.

* * *

Laxus and his Team found a spot to train near some mountains where Laxus lightning wouldn't cause to much damage to the surroundings.

At first everything was alright with Laxus, there was nothing what could remind him of Lucy and he was able to let out his anger during training. Of course the only reason why he is still so angry is because he wills the anger to the forefront of his mind. If he wouldn't do this, the feeling as if something is missing would probably overwhelm him and this is something he can't let happen. He still firmly believes in his Team and what Freed told him.

The only time he would think about Lucy was when he was alone, what he luckily was not very often. Then these thoughts started to pop out randomly, even when he was with his Team. Most times he was able to push these thoughts back down and replace them with anger, before his Team could notice that something was wrong.

After about a week in their training Laxus once again started to become restless, this time he knew instantly what was wrong and he wished for a moment that he would have taken something from Lucy with him to be able to smell her scent. As fast as these thoughts came he pushed them back down angrily, still not able to admit to himself that something inside of him missed Lucy.

Next Lucy face would appear randomly before him and distract him, even during training which caused mistakes. Since they all trained for themselves this month, his Team didn't notice his mistakes during training.

Then came the Dreams. It started one morning, he woke up alone in his tent and panicked as he couldn't sense or smell Lucy nearby, even thought she was just seconds before at his side. In his panic he looks fanatic around and jumps up to look outside for Lucy, just as he was about to leave his tent his brain wakes up and he remembers where he is and why Lucy wasn't there. He plops back down and tries to calm down before leaving to get ready for the day. Every following morning was more or less the same, he would dream about Lucy and when he wakes up panic in the first moment.

This Dreams affected him the most, they always left a heavy feeling in his chest. But he was still able to cover up this feeling with his usual stoic mask.

Nonetheless his Team was able to tell that something was on Laxus mind and distract him, but none of them connects this to Lucy. They thought that he was thinking about the upcoming Games and his life now that he is back in the Guild.

* * *

 **Second month of training:**

Team Natsu had finally Wendy and Carla back, they were with Porlyusica to learn about healing, and were training together with Team Shadow Gear at the beach. Of course they all wanted to know why Lucy wasn't with them at the beach and Gray told them that she wanted to a special training alone with her Spirits. Since they had no reason to believe that he lied to them they nod and continued with their training.

The three members of Team Natsu who knows the real reason why Lucy isn't with them, cringes a little. They trained as hard as they could, wanting to do what Lucy told them in her letter.

It has been now over a month since they had the conversation with Lucy about Laxus and they constantly think back to the time. They try to think about another possibility to solve the issue with Lucy and Laxus but they got nothing. So they still hope, that when they meet Lucy again she would be back to normal and they can be Team Natsu again without Lucy being of with Laxus. All they wanted after all was to have more time with her and her away from Laxus.

* * *

Lucy and her Spirits were training really hard. This month they began to try out different attack combos with different Spirits to see who works best together right now and which attacks are compatible. Of course they try to better the work between all of her Spirits and to add her new Silver Keys, since they were more fighting based than her other ones. For example, Aquila and Aquarius magic, lightning and water, combined worked really good, but they weren't a good Team at the moment so they tried to better this.

This exhausting training every day prevents her to think about Laxus most of the times. As she dreamed for the first time about Laxus, she woke up the next morning with tears streaming down her face. The memory of her Dream still very present, she begins to cry and can't stop for a long time.

All of her Spirits are feeling her sudden mood change and decides to give her the day off so that she can sort out her feelings. There would be no reason to train anyway when she can't concentrate enough. Loke appears to tell her the decision and after some debating Lucy agrees. He offers to stay with her but Lucy wants to be alone so he goes back to the Spirit World.

Lucy, for the first time in a while, recalls all her interactions with Laxus. Trying to find any indications that that what her Team told her could be true, she finds none. At least if you not count their last 'talk'. Well there is of course always the possibility that he was such a good actor that there are no indications for her to see and she really let him just play with her.

But could one person really be that good as an actor? Could all their talks just be some sort of planed out act?

The longer Lucy thinks about all this, the more questions she has and the more pain she feels, so much pain. So much more pain than she can endure, there is nothing but pain inside of her.

There is nothing she could do to stop this pain apart from closing her heart. So this is exactly what she does, she bans every memory sand every feeling regarding him to the depths of her mind and builds a strong wall around it. In fact for the moment, she kind of bans everything, with the exception of her Spirits.

As Loke realized what she is about to do he forces his Gate open to stop her but it's already to late and even if he would have appeared in time he wouldn't have been able to stop her. But instead of sending him back Lucy asks for a fight just between the two of them to test her hand-to-hand combat abilities.

As the days pass on, her Spirits watches as she goes everyday as if the whole thing with Laxus never happened. They fear what will happen when she sees him once again, something Lucy fears too.

This month as a present she got twin blades to be able to fight opponents in close range, when she can't use here new gloves because her opponent uses a weapon as well. Lucy trained many hours with Cancer to be able to wield these blades.

* * *

Laxus and his Team decided to train together this month.

It becomes harder and harder for Laxus to hides his current state of mind. The random thoughts at day and the Dreams at night taking it's toll on him.

Laxus knows that there is something wrong but he is to stubborn to admit to himself that the reason is Lucy. It just can't be right that the reason for him being so miserable is a girl who was just after his money and fame.

While training with his Team he tries to completely ban her from his thoughts but with flashbacks from his Dreams there is no way that he is able to do this, his stoic mask often faltering.

Often enough Laxus excuses himself during their training, to train on his own. While he is away the Thunder God Tribe would come together to debate what to do to help him. They wanted their Leader and good friend back, but the current state he is in is nothing of this sort. They realize that he is miserable, but can't figure out the reason, still vehemently rejecting the idea that this could have something to do with Lucy.

One morning, at the end of the second month, Bickslow wakes up earlier than the other days, so he stand up and steps out of his tent. That's when he hears it. He was just going by Laxus tent when he hears him mumble Lucy's name in his sleep and in that moment Bickslow realized the mistake they all made.

How could they, his Team and Team Natsu, be so foolish to do this to Laxus and poor Lucy? They misused the trust from both of them just to get what they wanted. They never really considered the feeling from them because they thought that what they were doing was to their best.

Bickslow sprints to Freed's and Ever's tent to wake them up and tell them what he just discovered. They too were shocked about their behavior now that they really thought about it. They were okay with breaking a friendship to get what they want and to be sure that Laxus won't be hurt. But if they would have really thought it over they would have realized that sweet Lucy would never be able to do something like that and that they hurt Laxus much more than Lucy would ever be able to.

They decide to tell Laxus what really happend as soon as he wakes up. They just hope that he and Lucy will be able to forgive them someday and that the two can fix the damage they have done.

Half a hour later Laxus steps out of his tent with red eyes, an indicator for the tears he had shed after waking up. As he looks to the place where his Team is sitting he notices their serious faces and instantly knows that something is going on. The only question now is, if it is something good or not.

"Laxus-sama, please sit down. We have something important to tell you and ask you to let us finish before doing what ever you want to do as soon as you hears what we have to say!", Freed starts the conversation. Laxus sits down and nods one time.

"Laxus.. we have finally realized the big mistake we made. There really is no excuse for our doings but at the time we thought we would do what is best for you. We don't ask you to understand, since we ourselves doesn't really understand how we could do such a thing. But know that we are really sorry and that we will try our best to make it up to you, to both of you.", Bickslow starts before Freed takes over, "Furthermore you need to know that it was me who convinced Bickslow and Ever. At first is was just me who thought that way." And Evergreen takes over, "So to make it short, we lied to you about Lucy. Freed never heard her something say like that. We told you what we feared she could do to you and make it seem like she already did it. The day she came to talk to you was probably the day after Team Natsu told her some lies about you. We don't know what they told her but we planed together to separate you two through lies. We are deeply sorry for our actions, Laxus and hope that you two can fix it!"

Laxus just that there, not knowing what to do or say. His Team, his best friends, lied to him. They told him lies about Lucy, the girl he was about to fall in love with. The girl he trusted almost just as much as his Team, but since it was his Team who told him the lies he believed them. He just believed them and never gave Lucy a reason to explain, even though there wasn't anything she needed to explain. Why couldn't he just let her talk? Why?

Finally knowing that Lucy never said these things about him he let go, go of this false anger. And he let the feelings flow through him freely.

As the Thunder God Tribe noticed that he won't say anything anytime soon they left him alone, going somewhere else already thinking about ways to help him, if he will let them.

The tears stream down his face and Laxus doesn't care to stop them. It just felt so good to let all of this out. He finally is able to think about Lucy again without feeling any pain. Stop, that's wrong! There still is pain, the pain of missing her. What he wouldn't give to be at her side right now, to see her, to smell her heavenly scent, to hear her speak and most of all to hear her laugh.

He needs to find her before it's to late! He needs to tell her that what her Team told her were lies, that he is sorry about the way he acted that way and most of all he needs to tell her that he loves her!

Laxus stands up, packs his things before flashing away to begin his search.

* * *

 **Third month of training:**

As soon as Laxus arrives in Magnolia he immediately goes to Lucy's apartment, he needs to smell her send. There is something inside of him that demands it. Laxus frowns as soon as he enters her apartment, since Lucy wasn't there in a long time her scent even in here was barley there anymore. He breathes in deeply to take in as much as possible before going to the Guild and to speak with his Gramps, maybe he knows where Lucy is.

Laxus had no luck, the only thing Master could tell him was that Lucy is somewhere in Fiore in a forest.

Being the stubborn person he is, Laxus still wants to try to find her. Master seeing how desperate his Grandson is wants to help him, even though he wouldn't tell him what happened, but knows no way how to do so.

In the end, they decided that if Laxus wants to find her he need to travel to the different forests and try to catch her scent. The only Master had, was that Laxus will continue his training since he would be on one Team for the GMG.

Laxus rests for the rest of the day in Lucy's apartment where he bathes in her scent.

The next day Laxus sets out to search for Lucy, he would flash to different forests and run through them, to see if he is able to smell her, as his training.

In every forest he looks he finds nothing. So at the end of every day he lets his frustration out during his training. Most days he exhausts himself so much that he isn't able to travel with his lightning the next day.

As the end of the month comes nearer and nearer he gets more frustrated that he still hasn't found her. And he gets more and more desperate to see her again. This voice inside of his head gets really loud in telling him to finally find her, as if his own desperation wasn't enough already...

When it's only a few days before the GMG starts, Laxus decided to travel back to Magnolia, there is nothing he can do anymore and she needs to show up there anyway.

He spends this last days mostly in Lucy's apartment or outside to train.

* * *

In her third month Lucy can feel how much her magic had grown. But not just her magic has grown, she is so much stronger and fitter now, it always amazes her.

She is now able to call out two Golden Gates at the same time for around half an hour and three Silver Keys for the same amount of time, but this always depends on which Spirits she calls and which attacks their use.

Another thing she trained in the first half of the month is to be able to cast Urano Metria on her own.

The gift her Spirits gave her this time was something like a requip-bracelet. She is able to store her other gifts in this bracelet and call them when ever she needs them, furthermore nobody is able to take the bracelet of apart from herself.

Shortly after she opened the present and tried it out Jellal, Meredy and Ultear stumbles across her clearing. They were on a way to a job to destroy a Dark Guild and Lucy tagged along to try out her new abilities in a real fight. Lucy is amazed how much she could help them during the mission and dances happily in front of the three former criminals.

Ultear told her that they already met Team Natsu and that she offered them to open their second origin and that she would open Lucy's as well if she wants to. Lucy agrees instantly.

Before they say their goodbyes Ultear advises Lucy to only open her second origin when her first is empty. This way it will come as a huge surprise when she is in a fight suddenly back to full strength. Furthermore she told Lucy that she is able to close her second origin again so that she won't use it constantly after opening it for the first time.

As they separate Lucy makes her way to the next train station and the other three goes to the next Dark Guild.

Settling down in an empty compartment Lucy realizes that she probably will see Laxus again when she gets back and she really doesn't know what to do when she sees him. But she already had decided to let her walls up, as much as possible, until the Games are over, not wanting to risk a breakdown during these Games.


	4. Seeing again

Lucy arrived late in the evening back in Magnolia, she decides to go directly home and go to the Guild the next morning. Oh her way she picks some take-out up at a little cafe before going home. Lucy really hopes that her Team isn't back and waiting in her apartment, she could use a quiet night before being back in the usual craziness of her Guild.

Arriving at her apartment she stops outside to listen if someone is inside, hearing no one she enters. She brings the food in her kitchen before going to her bedroom to change into something more comfortable. Just as she was about to lift her shirt, her eyes catch a form on her bed. She turns fully to see who is laying in her bed, firmly believing that it's like always Natsu and Happy.

"What the actual fuck?!" There in her bed lays Laxus, curled up like a little puppy around one of her pillows, nose buried in said pillow.

 _"Who does he think he is?! Breaking into my apartment and sleep in my bed? And that after the way he yelled at me the last time we saw each other?! After kicking me out of his or actually our office? What the fuck is wrong with him?!"_

"Get out of my bed and my apartment you perverted asshole!", Lucy screams at him. In his surprise Laxus falls out of the bed to the floor, pillow landing on top of him.

Laxus lays there for a few moments, sleepily blinking up at Lucy. When it finally registered in his brain that Lucy is standing in front of him and that this is not one of his usual Dreams about her, he smiles up at her. That is until he caught the very angry glare she sends him and her prior words registered. He noticed the way he lays there on her floor dumbly and stands quickly up, tangling in the pillow and falls down once again before he finally stands in front of her.

Everything inside of him screams at him to hug her and to never let go afterwards, but the glare she sends him stops him. And then he realizes that he finally has the chance to tell her what he wanted since the Thunder Legion told him everything.

"Blon.. Lucy! You are fina...", "Get out of my apartment right now before I make you!", Lucy threatens him, not wanting to hear what he has to say. She is furious that he would just enter her apartment and then sleep in her bed as if they were best friends or a couple or something like that! Where did he take the right from to do something like that?!

Laxus is shocked, never would he have thought that Lucy would react this way when he finally found her. But the way she found him and the way he treated her the last time they saw each other makes it somewhat understandable for him. But he can't go now, not when she is finally at his side again, so he tries again, "Lu..."

But Lucy wouldn't have it, "I warned you!" And with that Lucy requiped her sunglasses and the boots. Faster than Laxus' eyes could see it Lucy was standing in front of him and already in the next second he was flying out of her window, head ringing for a second before he passed out while still flying through the air.

To angry to care at the moment what happens to Laxus, Lucy continued to do what she wanted to do before she spotted him on her bed. Just the thought about how she found him in her bed sleeping and cuddling with her pillow makes her furious. But this anger is still the only thing she feels, the walls still intact.

After her little dinner Lucy goes to her bed, still fuming because of Laxus intrusion.

* * *

Laxus wakes up one hour later, not knowing where he is and how he got there, everything hurt him, especially his head. He slowly sits up to prevent more pain, he touches his head and discovers a big bump at the side of his head. His body has bruises everywhere as if someone had send him crashing on the ground. Just as he thinks this he remember what happend and that his comparison wasn't wrong at all. Someone had send im crashing to the ground, this someone was Lucy who gave him his first Lucy-Kick. He would never again make fun of someone who whines about her kick, how hard can she kick to knock him out for so long that it's now almost completely dark outside. He looks around again and is finally able to tell where he is, Lucy kicked him all the way to the outskirts of Magnolia. Well, at least he doesn't have to walk very long to his own home from here on.

Laxus starts is painful way to his house, very happy that he doesn't have to walk long after that kick.

As he lays down in his bed he things about what happened this evening. He realizes that it probably wasn't his best idea to always go to her apartment since he is back. But the scent inside her apartment was the only thing that could calm him down enough to sleep probably these last days. Everyday he didn't found her made it harder for him to rest and sleep probably, he became more and more restless. Even now he starts to feel the effect, something inside of him longs to smell her scent again. Sadly he knows that there is no way for him right now to go back, so he needs to live with this longing for now and hopefully can get still get some sleep.

Finally he has seen Lucy again and what he first sees of her is an angry glare, he hopes that she will be in a better mood tomorrow so that he can talk with her. Laxus doesn't know what he will do when it turns out that she hates him now and doesn't want to talk to him ever again. But one thing he knows fur sure, he will try everything possible to at least explain to her what happen. And when she doesn't listen to him, he will make her Team tell her the truth!

And when she still doesn't want to have anything to do with him after hearing the explanation, he will somehow change her mind. With that decision set, he is finally able to sleep.

* * *

The next morning gets ready quickly and after deciding to eat her breakfast at the Guild she practically skips in happiness on her way. It's been three and a half month, even if it didn't feel that long at all, since she has been at the Guild and now she can't wait to finally see everyone, except Laxus, again. She will try everything in her might to avoid him, at least until the Games are over in case that she is in the Team.

Arriving at the Guild, Lucy goes straight to the bar to get a Strawberry-Shake, on her way she greets happily everyone who is already back from their own training. Almost everyone is back, since they leave tomorrow for Crocus.

After she has finished her breakfast she goes up to Masters office, "Good morning, Master. I just wanted to inform you that I am back." "Good morning, Lucy, my child. How are you doing? How was your training?", he smiles at her from behind his desk. "I am very good, thank you! And training was so great! It was just what I needed and I learned so many new things." Lucy tells him a bit about what she learned but let the most things as a surprise.

* * *

Across the room in his own office, Laxus noticed Lucy approaching to the Guild long before she was there. As she entered her heavenly scent filled the Guild again and even reached him in his own office. He hears as she approaches the stairs and hopes at first that she comes to talk with him but then deflates when he realizes that she knocks at the door across from his own. Laxus listen to them talk and is happy to hear that she is alright and decides that this his his next chance to talk with her. So he waits for her to leave his Gramps office and stands behind his own door to not miss her. When he hears the other door closing he opens his own.

"Lucy, do you have a moment?" "No.", she didn't even look in his direction and just walks away. Laxus is left there standing, mouth agape and eyes wide open.

While talking with his Gramps she sounded so happy, but this one word from her send chills down his spine.

The Thunder Legion, with whom Laxus didn't speak one word since they told him everything, watched the exchange between them.

"Maybe we should help him? It doesn't look like Lucy wants to listen to him.", Ever begins. "You are probably right but...", Freed begins but the growl from Laxus stops him. Laxus sends them all a glare before turning around to walk away, just before he enters his office again he says his first words to them, "I don't need anymore of your help! The last time you wanted to help me, you took my happiness away!"

After that Laxus tries severely times more to speak with her but she would go away as soon as she sees that he goes in her direction.

* * *

In the afternoon the Group who trained at the beach got as last back to the Guild.

Team Natsu immediately swarms Lucy, all tackling her to a big hug and they end up on the floor. Natsu, Happy, Gray and Erza cling to her and won't let go again, Wendy too clings too her but for another reason then the other four.

Lucy pets all of their heads and wiggles out of the hug to take a seat at their usual table, the others following her like lost puppies. There they sat down and just talk, catching up about what happened these last month and what they learned in training. Natsu whines that Lucy wouldn't tell them what she learned and demanded a fight to test her knew skills.

Lucy being annoyed with his behavior, delivers a Lucy-Kick, without her new boots, and sends him flying. Most in the Guild flinch away at seeing the new power behind her kick and look at the poor boy with pity in their eyes. A few minutes later a still slightly dazed Natsu comes crawled back to them and quietly sits down.

The four who were involved with the plan to separate Lucy and Laxus are all quite happy, seeing as it seems that Lucy is back to normal.

One hour later Erza goes up to Master to report about their training but before she can enters his office Laxus stops her and practically drags her in his office.

"Laxus, let me go this instant!", Erza demands. "Erza! You need to tell Lucy the truth! My Team told me what you all did and I will not allow it. I already tried talking with her but she won't listen to me because of the lies you told her about me. I don't know the reason why you did this, and frankly I don't care why you did this, but I won't let you destroy our friendship! I will do everything possible to save our friendship and become back what we had. So you either help me or I will somehow destroy you all!", he growls out. Laxus didn't want to threaten her or them, but this voice in his head was to strong to ignore. The voice if furious that the girl he loves won't speak with him anymore because of them. Erza for once actually scared of Laxus nods and turns to leave, not wanting anger him further.

Right now he looks more angry than she had ever seen him, even more than during Fantasia. It is as if the Dragon in him comes out, ready to destroy anything and anyone who goes against him.

After leaving Laxus office, Erza gives a short report to Master before dragging Natsu, Happy and Gray away from Lucy, telling her that she needs to discuss something with them regarding their training. Lucy looks confused but nods and turns to speak with Wendy and Carla.

Outside she tells them what just happened with Laxus and what she observed from his reactions. The more she says the more panicked Natsu looked. Natsu is furious with himself, how could he oversee this? He as a Dragon Slayer should have known better, but his own Dragon is very protective of Lucy too, so he acted on his own instincts. He don't even know if Laxus knows what is happening with him since he didn't have a Dragon to teach him these things.

"We made the biggest mistake! I really hope that we can heal what we broke between them!", the other just looked confused at him, "You probably won't know it but we Slayer have Mates. Not in, there is some person who is made for us but more that we have this Dragon in us who searches for potential Mates. A potential Mate is a person who matches us in many aspects and and is like out other half. But our Dragon won't just decide on a Mate, we first needs to fall in love with this person. So the Mate is chosen when both, we and our Dragon, loves this person. I believe that Laxus was about to fall in love with Lucy or already loved her when we separated them. From what you told us, Erza, I can tell that his Dragon hasn't claimed her as it's Mate otherwise we probably would be dead right now, you never comes between a Dragon and his Mate. But the way you described his behavior shows that his Dragon has taken a liking to Lucy. Laxus probably craves her presence and scent, these last month were probably complete hell for him. First thinking that his potential Mate rejects him and and now she is rejecting him. The longer he is away from her the more he will hurt, now that he at least can see and smell her again he should be somewhat calmed down but not for very long when she will continue to reject him because of what we did. We Dragon Slayers are really possessiv and protective of our, potential, Mates and always wants them near us, so with Lucy not wanting to be near Laxus... If we don't act fast Laxus probably will make his threat real and when the Dragon accepts Lucy as it's Mate we will likely be killed when he looses control of his Dragon."

After Natsu finished he turns around and sprints back in to speak with Lucy. The others stay there a little longer to process all these information before sprinting after Natsu.

"Luce, we need to talk with you! It's really important!" "Okay... What is so important?", Lucy asks. "It's about Laxus, the..." "Sorry but I don't want to talk about Laxus right now!", with that Lucy stands up and walks away from them. "Fuck! We messed up big time, Lucy probably felt the mating pull when Laxus' Dragon started to accept her before we separated them and this caused damage to the bond between them. She probably hurt almost as much as he did while she was away. And if I'm right, Lucy somehow buried these feelings to be able to make the pain go away!"

Wendy who stayed behind looks angry at her Team mates. "What exactly did you do to damage a mating bond?!", she growls out. The little Slayer can be very terrifying when she wants, especially when someone hurt her Lucy-nee.

So they explain to her what they did. Wendy understood that Natsu did what he did because of his own Dragons possessiv nature but she is still furious with them and demands that they makes this right before stomping of.

* * *

Up in his office Laxus hears every thing and finally he knows what this voice in his head is. And finally he is able to understand why he is so restless when Lucy isn't near him, the Dragon wants his potential Mate in reach, to be able to protect her.

His hope crashed as Lucy refused to talk with her Team about him, now he needs to find a new way to make her listen to him.

Laxus stands up an goes his Gramps, to set his new plan in action, "Hey, Gramps. I know that you already have the Team for the Grand Magic Gamed but could you please bring Lucy in my Team? I know I didn't explain what happened and I won't tell you now, everything you need to know right now is that I need to speak with Lucy to explain something to her but she won't listen to me. She even doesn't want to talk with her Team about me. I tried to talk with her multiple times this day but as soon as she hears or sees me she turns around and goes away. So please, if you put her in the same Team as me than there is no way for her to avoid me the whole time. I really need to speak with her!", Laxus practically begs him.

Master sees how desperate he is instantly agrees to change the Team.

A few minutes later they leave his office to announce who will fight in the Games. Being the sly person he is he decides to just announce one Team and make the other a complete secret.

"Listen up brats! It's time to announce who will be on the Team. We will send, to win back the title of the strongest Guild, Erza, Natsu, Gray, Wendy and Lisanna with Elfman as the backup. And now lets party! Oh and Lucy, Mira, Juvia, Gajeel and Cana could you please come to my office?", Master jumps down from the railing and goes back to his office, Laxus at his side.

The Guild breaks out in a party, typical Fairy-style.

Lucy just wanted to curl up somewhere alone, she really wanted to be on the Team but she had no other choice but to go up to Master along with the others.

As they all are in his office, Lucy being as far away from Laxus as possible, Master begins to speak, "You will make our secret second Team, Cana you will be the reserve. I don't want anyone to know about this, so don't tell anyone. You alle will be our secret weapon! You will stay in a different hotel too, the Sleeping Devils. And now go down to party with the rest of the wild bunch.", Master shoos them out before they have the chance to say anything to his plan.

Lucy happily skips down the stairs, very pleased that she is chosen to fight in the Games. But then her steps falte and she almost falls down the rest of the stair as she realizes that she is on a Team with Laxus. How will she be able to avoid him? She somehow needs to find a way to avoid him! Hopefully they won't have to share a room in the hotel, otherwise she really don't know what to do.

She is so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that the one who saved her from falling down the stairs was Laxus, she just mumbles a quiet "Thanks" before walking of.

Laxus who was finally able to be near her again, take a direct whiff of her scent and to even touch her, practically purrs in contentment for this short time. But stops as soon as he sees her once again walk away from him. In his eyes you can see the sadness and that sadness is noticed by no other than Mira, who immediately decides to help Laxus and turns back to Masters office to make a plan with him.


	5. Crocus

So originally I had planed to finish this story today or tomorrow but the ideas just kept coming and the story got longer and longer.  
Tomorrow I need to go to the University again so I will probably have less time to work on this story.  
So I want to know if you want to wait for Chapters which are longer or have an update everyday with (probably) shorter Chapters?

Tell me what you think and have fun reading (even though the drama is still not over yet)!

* * *

The next morning Lucy stands along with the rest of the Guild at the train station, waiting for the train. Lucy is happily chatting with her Team, not knowing what will await her.

In the background you can see Mira and Master whispering to each other about something, this something is of course the plan to bring Lucy and Laxus together.

Just as the train finally arrived and Lucy wants to enter and search for a compartment for herself and her Team, Erza and Gray are trying to get Natsu on the train, Mira drags her away with the words "Team meeting!". Luckily Natsu was to distracted with the Death-Trap to her Mira.

Mira drags Lucy in a compartment where everyone else is already waiting for them, sadly her plan to sit Lucy down next to Laxus fails. Lucy being the one who enters first practically runs to the other seat between Cana and the window, meaning that she now sits farthest away from Laxus. Mira, of course, pouts that her plan didn't work out the way she wanted, why didn't she think about this possibility? Well in that case she needs to make sure that nothing will stop the next plan.

"Well for what do we need this meeting?", Lucy asks. "Master told me to tell you the rules we already know for the Games. First, we all need to be at the hotel at 12 p.m. otherwise we will be disqualified. We don't know why we need to be there but we believe that there will happen something, so be prepared. Another thing, Master wants us to wear something black, to look more like a unit. Team A will wear purple with a white Fairy Tail symbol on it. He said that we don't need the symbol since he couldn't make these clothes without raising suspicion. Just be sure to wear something black when we will be announced.", Mira delivers the message.

Lucy realized that black isn't really her normal color, so she asks Virgo telepathically if she can prepare her something from the Celestial World or if she needs to buy something in Crocus. Virgo answers that she will have something ready for her when the Games start and Lucy lays relieved back in her seat.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Master said to strengthen our Team bonds he just got one room for all of us!", Mira smiles brightly, really happy that this plan worked out and if she can make it so that Lucy and Laxus have beds next to each other it would be even more perfect.

As she hears this Lucy almost falls out of her seat, to shocked by this outcome, this is exactly what she hoped would not happen. How will she be able to avoid Laxus the whole time when they need to share a room? When they are constantly together? Before she can panic, Lucy decides to make the best out of the situation, if that is possible at all. She will enjoy that she was chosen as a Team member and avoid Laxus as much as possible.

Laxus eyes Lucy from his place and sees her reaction. He himself is quite shocked with this, never would he have thought that his Gramps will go this far but he has a suspicion that the She-Demon has something to do with this. And for the first time he is happy about her Matchmaker tendencies. There has to be a way for him to talk to her, she can't always avoid him when they share a room! Right?

But Mira wouldn't be the Matchmaker if she hadn't another plan already set in motion. Now that both, Lucy and Laxus, are distracted the gestures to the rest that they should leave the compartment to leave them alone. Mira closes the door with the help of Freed who stood outside, waiting to write some runes so that Lucy can't escape.

Mira kind of forced Freed to do this, even though she didn't have to threaten him at all, he would have done it anyways to help his beloved Laxus-sama. And this is, perhaps, the best way to do so, from the side lines with little things he won't notice.

"Perfect, thank you so much Freed! I don't know what happened between them but now Lucy has to listen to him, there is no way that she can escape now!", Mira squeals in her excitement, another couple forming directly before her eyes. And the babies they will have... Mira is in her own little world with heart in her eyes, nearly passing out.

"Oh, really?", a very annoyed Lucy asks them, eyes narrowed dangerously. Sadly for her, Lucy noticed this motion and runs out herself before Mira can close the door, her new sunglasses helping her to make it in time. Since she was so fast, Mira didn't noticed her running out.

"Lucy! What... When... How... How did you get out? Freed'r rune should have trapped you inside with Laxus, either until you listend to him or we arrive in Crocus!", a totally perplexed Mira stammers and stares at her with wide eyes, baby fantasies long forgotten. How could another plan fail? What is she doing wrong?

Freed, too, is completely staggered, how could she escape his runes? And that so fast.

"All I will say is, that this has something to do with my training. And really Mira? I thought you are my friend? How can you force me like this to do something I clearly don't want to do?", Lucy glares at both of them before turning around and stomping away. Mira and Freed actually flinched at her angry glare, for a slight moment really scared of Lucy.

"But... I just wanted you to be happy...", Mira murmurs sadly behind Lucy.

"Freed! Let me out!", an equally angry Laxus growls at Freed as he noticed that he can't open the door and sees Freed standing outside through the little window in the door.

"Laxus-sama, I will do so right away!", Freed jumps in fright before rewriting the runes. Once finished Laxus stomps out to follow Lucy, wanting to try and talk with her without anyone interfering. He lets Freed and Mira stand behind at the door without a single word to them after his demand. Freed stares sadly at his back, regretting so much what he did to him. Freed decides that even though this time didn't work out, he will continue to try his best to help his Leader.

Laxus follows Lucy's scent and finds her in another compartment talking with Levy about some books. He decides that this is not the right moment to try again and turns once again around to search for an empty compartment. Now that Lucy isn't close enough to smell her scent directly, the motion sickness finally catches up to him and he wants to be alone before anyone notices this.

* * *

Two hours later they arrive in Crocus, there anyone separates to enjoy the time in the beautiful city before the Games start.

Lucy was going through town with Natsu and Happy, they shortly met the Dragon Slayers from Sabertooth, but Lucy could stop Natsu from starting yet again another fight. Even though she herself wanted to punch them because of the way they looked down on them.

The first hour was really enjoyable with them, it's been so long since they spent time with just the three of them. But then Natsu just needed to bring up Laxus and Lucy's good mood was gone, quickly changing the topic. Natsu tried a few more times to speak about Laxus but Lucy blocks everything what sounds even the slightest bit like Laxus.

In the end Lucy Lucy tells Natsu to stop or she will go. But being so desperate, Natsu tries one last time and gone was Lucy. Natsu ponders if he should follow her but decides against it and just goes back to their hotel with Happy.

After separating from Natsu Lucy wanders aimlessly trough town. Seeing a little magic shop she enters to look for new Keys, and runs straight into Laxus who catches her before she could fall.

"Blondie...", Laxus whispers and holds her close to him and slowly wraps his arms around her, not wanting to let her go again. He breathes in deeply, relishing in her scent and the feeling of her in his arms. Never before have they hugged each other, always just talking in the office and the only times touching when they sat close enough to each other while filling out the papers or later while eating together. Right now Laxus is in heaven, Lucy fits perfectly against him, he can't stop himself from hugging her even tighter to himself.

Lucy stood there shocked not knowing what is happening, one moment she is falling and the next she is wrapped in someones arms. Her face is presst against a broad chest and her arms trapped between them.

"Lucy..", Laxus sighs. And that's when Lucy finally realizes who is holding her so close, which chest she is so tightly pressed against and who feels so comfortable. The first time she didn't hear him but know she did. And now that she knows who is holding her she just wants to get away, not ready to face her own feelings, still determined to full fill the promise to herself to let the walls up until the Games are over and to avoid him as much as possible.

Lucy tries to push away but the strong arms around her wouldn't let her go, so she does the only thing she could do. She requips her her boots and tries again, the added strength helping her to push him away with so much force that he actually stumble back and lands on the floor. As soon as she was free, Lucy requiped her sunglasses and runs away.

And once again Laxus is left behind with a sad look in his eyes, his heart breaking a little further.

He stands up and makes his way to the hotel, hands in his pocket, feeling the item he just bought, in hopes it will help him with Lucy. Hoping that it will make her happy, to be able to see her smile once again, even if he was the who got it for her.


	6. The Truth

And here another Chapter for all of you who loves LaLu as much as I do.

* * *

All Lucy wanted to do right now was go to the hotel and curl up in her bed. But that was really no option at the moment, with the giving chance that she won't be alone. So she did the only other thing she knows will calm her down, search for a quiet and calm place to meditate.

With the Kingdom so busy because of the upcoming Games the only way to find such a place is to go to the forest at the outskirts of town, there she find a nice little clearing and settles down. She ponders shortly if she should call Capricorn but decides to do the meditation on her own.

Finding a comfortable position Lucy regulates her breathing before going in herself to search for her magic. Finding her magic she sends gentle pulses out, forming a golden sphere around her. With every wave of her magic which washes over her Lucy feels herself slowly getting calmer and calmer until the only thought in her mind is her magic and the feeling she gets from it. While meditating she always feels so much more connected with her Spirits and can feel their love for her.

Calm enough Lucy starts the next step, she forms the magic in several sphere which are floating around her. She adds some more magic and feels the wind pick up speed around her, even though the wind is almost raging around her, to her it feels more like a gently kiss of the wind. The magic pressure around her raises and she begins to float, the magic pressure around her lifting her up. While adding more and more magic in her meditation, more and more golden spheres appear around her and she floats higher in the air. The wind has gained much more speed and covers far more ground than before, the leaves around the clearing begins to rustle, sounding like music to Lucy.

Lucy knows that she shouldn't go over board and release to much magic in case that there really will be something tonight so she slowly begins to pull the magic back in side of her, pulling as much magic inside of her as possible to expand her magic containers. One by one the golden spheres vanishes, the wind looses his speed and Lucy slowly floats back to the ground where she gently lands, her magic pressure now completely back in side of her.

Opening her eyes Lucy feels content and peaceful and is finally ready to go back to the hotel after a fast dinner, seeing that it's starting to get dark.

* * *

At the same time many of the more powerful mages in Crocus wonders where that great magic pressure came from. Most of them stopped what they were doing, at first thinking that some sort of threat is approaching, but then they all feel the calmness and gentleness of this magic power wash over them and all are seen with a little smile on their face. All these mages looked in wonder around them, hoping to find the source of this magic but of course they all got nothing.

Some of them were tempted to go search for this magic but decided against it, hoping to find out at the Games.

The none mages or mages with not so much magic power in them felt this as a gentle breeze which washed over them.

Laxus too felt this magic power, he too feels himself get calmer and that some of his pain was washed away.

* * *

As Lucy arrived in the hotel it was around 10 p.m., so till enough time to get ready for possible challenges. Entering their shared room, Lucy sees that she is alone but all the others had to be there at some point because just one bed is left. Going over to the bed to plop down on it Lucy sees a little note and a little rectangular black and silver box. Curious who would leave something for her on her bed she read the note first.

 _Dear Blondie, no Lucy,_

 _I found this in the little magic shop earlier and bought it for you. I really hope that you will accept it, even when I was the one who got it for you. But don't worry, I didn't buy it so that you would talk to me, I just new that you would love it or more precisely him, at least I think it's a him..._

 _Laxus_

Setting the note aside Lucy grabs the box and immediately feels her magic humming in response. Now already knowing what will be inside she practically tears the box open, inside lays a Silver Key, the Key from Leo Minor. Lucy feels as tears are gathering in her eyes and she knows that she needs to see Laxus, explain to him why she is avoiding him.

She grabs the Key out of the box and calls another of her new Spirits to help her find Laxus.

"Open, Canes Venatici!", and with a poof the two hunting dogs appeared before her. _"What can we help you with, Princess?"_ , one of them asked her trough their link."Could you please help me find Laxus? This should be his beg so you should be able to get his scent to track him." _"Of course, Princess!"_

They both sniff his things before leaving the room, running through Crocus, hopefully able to find Laxus before it's to late and they need to get back before the time limit is up.

A few minutes later they slow down before arriving at a little diner where Lucy sees Laxus sitting outside. "Thanks for your help, guys! You did really great." _"We love to be of help for you, Princess!"_ And gone they are, knowing that she needs her time to sort her thoughts before approaching, wondering how he didn't notice her already with his Dragon Slayer senses.

Lucy walks up to his table and sits down in front of him, waiting for him to notice her.

Laxus thought at first that yet again another girl wanted to throw herself at him but then her scent hit him and his head shots up. He blinks, once, twice, not really believing that Lucy is really sitting there before him with a gentle smile on her face.

"Hey Laxus, I'm..." Before he registers what he is doing, his body is already moving to engulf her in a hug over the table, surprising her so much that she stops talking. This time she didn't pull away, this time she slowly wraps her own arms around his waits, well as much as possible with the table still between them.

They both just enjoy the moment before then pulling away slightly so that they can look into each others eyes.

All Lucy can see in his eyes his hope and something that could be love but she isn't to sure about that.

All Laxus can see in her eyes is the same hope but with some carefulness still there.

As Laxus realizes what he just did he slowly let her go and sits down on his place again. Lucy looks at him before going around the table and offering her hand to him, "Come on a walk with me? If you still want to, I would like to talk. And explain myself..."

Laxus takes some money out, leaves it on the table and takes her hand in his after standing up. They walk in silence for a while, just enjoying the company.

"So... I wanted to say sorry! No stop, let me finish first... I am sorry for just avoiding you. I was just so hurt... The way you just kicked me out and then what my Team told me... While away I was in so much pain and the only thing I could do to lessen this pain was to build up a wall, this wall is still there and I'm not entirely ready to break the wall down. But I will stop avoiding you. I just feared that when we talk now before the Games are over, I would break down completely and wouldn't be of any use. I always planned to try and talk to you again, but I wanted to do this when the Games are over and we have enough time. And then you came and wanted to talk to me... I don't know what happened to change your mind but I am very grateful for it. So please, don't hate me for avoiding you... I... I just... it... it hurt so much, to much...", a tears trails down Lucy's cheek.

Laxus lifts his hand to wipe away the tear and pulls her in another hug. They stay there like this until Lucy has calmed down a little.

Ending the hug Laxus looks around and notice that they are at a little park, he pulls Lucy to a bench and sits down with her beside him, still holding her hand in his.

"I am sorry to for the way I acted that way. And I can understand you avoiding me since it was the same thing I did. You said that your Team told you something? My Team told me something too... But I unlike you, who wanted to talk about it with me, I reacted purely on my anger and couldn't stand to see you again. I knew that there was something wrong about what they told me, but they were my best friends and my Team for such a long time that I believed them. What I now know was probably one of my biggest mistakes... I too hurt so much while being away training, it got worse and worse and then one day they told me the truth. They told me that my Team and your Team planned together to separate us. They apparently didn't like the fact that we became so close to each other, they were jealous because we started to spent more time with each other. I don't know all the reasons but..."

"Wait! They lied to us?! What did they tell you about me to make you hate me? Ohh how they will get it!", Lucy interrupts him as all these information finally makes their way to her brain and she was able to process them.

"Yeah, that is what they told me. They lied to both of us to separate us... They told me that all you were after was my fame and money, telling me that this whole time you were just leading me on so that in the end I would do what you want... What... what did your Team tell you about me?", Laxus asks rubbing his thump slowly over her hand to calm her down, even though he himself was pretty livid.

"They told me that you would never want anything from a little and weak girl like myself and that all you wanted was to get in my pants." Just the memory of that day, the pain she felt as they told her this brings new tears to her eyes, falling quietly down her face.

Laxus who had looked in another direction, not wanting her to see his face has he recalled the memories turns to her as he smells her tears, again he gently wipes the tears away and then pulling her into another hug yet again. It just feels so good to have her in his arms.

This moment would be perfect, if they weren't here because of the lies their Teams told them.

Still holding her tightly in his arms he begins speaking again, "I haven't spoken to my Team since they told me the truth. I really don't know what to do, they hurt me and you so much for their own selfish wishes. I know that they in their own way wanted to protect me with this, since every girl always just wanted my money and fame, but they should have known that you would never do something like that. How will I ever be able to trust them again?"

"I don't know... This is really hard, here I was so hurt because of you and in reality it was my Team who hurt me. My Team, my family... But I know one thing for sure, they will pay!", Lucy spats out at the end.

Laxus chuckles shortly, "When you sound like this I can understand why your Team sometimes calls you Scary Lucy." Lucy pouts at him before giving an evil grin, "Oh they will get to see the new and improved Scary Lucy, they won't know what hits them until it's already to late." At her words and the way she says them Laxus actually shivers and is very happy that this isn't direct at him.

"So what should we do from here on?", Laxus asks now. "I know that there are still somethings we need to speak about but maybe we can do that after the Games are over? I think we won't have much time these next days and I would like to take my time for this. Of course just if this is alright with you..."

"I think that would be a good idea. Maybe we can go on a little mission to have some time to just ourselves?", Laxus asks her, a little blush appearing on his cheeks. "I'd like that!", Lucy beams at him with her own little blush.

They sat there for a little while in silence at the bench looking up at the stars, both lost in their own thoughts.

"Ohhh, I know we should go back to the hotel soon but would you like to watch me making the contract with the Key you got for me? And thank you so much for buying this Key for me, it means so much to me! I never before got a Key from anyone in the Guild...", Laxus nods at her and releases her hand so she could stand up.

"I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate! Open Gate of the little lion, Leo Minor! Open, Loke!"

Before them appears Loke in his normal way and besides him a smaller version of him. The little boy looks exactly like Loke, just in smaller and with black hair.

"Leon? It's been such a long time since we had the same contractor.", Loke hugs his little brother. "Hey, assume your name is Leon? Mine is Lucy Heartfilia and I would love to make a contract with you."

"You are the Princess my brother always talks about! Of course I want to make a contract with you! And yes my name is Leon!", he says excitedly. Lucy beams at him, "Alright, Leon. When can I call you? And what are your abilities? Is there something else I need to know about you?" "You can all me when ever you want to, Princess. My powers are the same as my brothers but instead of Light Regulus, I use Dark Regulus. I work really good together with my brother here, we are a really good Team and when summoned with him I will get stronger."

"Alright, thank you! I would love to talk some more with you but we need to go back to our hotel, otherwise we could be disqualified. But I promise you that we can talk to another time. And oh before I forget it, the man behind me is Laxus, he got me your Key.", Lucy turns and smiles brightly at Laxus, who feels his heart flutter as he sees her smile like that at him.

"Thank you, Laxus, for giving my Key to our Princess!", Leon bows before them and then disappears. "I assume that you have talk and there was a misunderstanding of some sorts? Otherwise my Princess would be feeling so much happier than these last days. I warn you know Laxus, don't get her hurt again!", before Laxus has the chance to reply something Loke has already gone back to the Spirit World.

Laxus turns to look at Lucy just as she touches one of her Silver Keys, "Oh shit! We need to hurry or we will be late!"

"Shit!", Laxus curses and runs after the already running Lucy. "Stop, Blondie! I can get us there faster with my teleportation!"

Lucy turns and runs back to him, he once again holds her close to him before turning into lightning and reappearing seconds later in front of their hotel.


	7. Planning and Labyrinth

Landing with a boom, Lucy stays for a while longer in his arms, waiting for the dizziness to wear off.

"Hey Laxus, I don't know if you will like this plan but I have a first idea how we will get them back. How about we pretend that I still won't talk to you?", Lucy murmurs still in his arms. "Hmm.. you mean to let them see that we or I are still miserable because of what they did. To let them continue feel their panic for doing this to us? I think I like that idea. But we need to let everyone believe that you won't talk to me, I have a feeling that Mira is helping them and this way we can get her back for all her matchmaking plans.", Laxus looks down at Lucy with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

"Wow Laxus, I didn't know that you had a side like that in you. But yeah of course, Mira deserves it too somehow I think. Maybe that will teach her to let couples or just people who might like each other do things on their own. Oh and thanks again for my new Silver Key, that was really sweet of you!", Lucy reaches up and pecks him on his left cheek before turning around and running away, not wanting him to see her steady rising blush.

But Laxus is not better at all, he stand there shocked, still feeling the lingering touch of her soft lips against his cheek. He raises his hand to touch the spot where he still feels her lips and feels a blush arising, Laxus tries his damnedest to will the blush away but to no avail.

Finally when the blush has wear off, Laxus follows Lucy up to there room, his thoughts still completely occupied with the little kiss. How can such a tiny and sweet kiss leave him feeling like that? Feeling like he is the happiest man alive. He wonders what it would be like to kiss her, how her soft and most likely sweet lips would feel against his own. How it would be to be able to taste her, would she taste the was she smelled to him, like heaven?

He decides to ask her out on a date as soon they are back from their little mission and were able to speak about everything. Maybe he will make this whole mission in some sort of date...

Shaking his head to get rid of these thoughts before entering the room, he opens the door and is greeted with the whole group waiting for him. Lucy is again standing as far away from him as possible, but now this luckily doesn't causes anymore stings in his heart.

He sends his best sad and longing look in her direction before standing opposite from her. It's not really hard for him to look that way at her. He is sad that he can't beside her at the moment because of their plan. And he longed to hold her in his arms once again, longed to feel her lips once again, even though it was just against his cheek. What a softy he had become because of her, but he really doesn't care about that.

"It's only a few more minutes before it's midnight, then we will finally see if something will happen or if we can go to sleep.", Mira speaks up.

Lucy goes up to Juvia to talk with her, hoping that now that they are in the same Team she will be able to better their relationship. She always wanted to become better friends with the water mage, but her thinking that Lucy is after her Gray-sama hindered her greatly. But maybe now she can convince Juvia that she doesn't want anything from Gray romantically and right now, nothing at all.

While talking they forgot the time then suddenly the clocks all around town begin to ring and a voice echos through town. They run outside to the balcony and listens to the announcement.

Afterwards they immediately sprint to the Sky-Labyrinth to start the competition. There Lucy stops everyone to call Pyxis. The stronger a Celestial Mage is the more abilities can a Spirit unlock or gets stronger in general. Pyxis is now able to show you the way to your searched destination and not only cardinal points.

Getting a feeling for the surroundings Pyxis shows a general direction, so they can start to run, and vanishes back to the Spirit World from where he will lead Lucy through their link.

Lucy who had already requiped hersunglasses runs faster. Following her are Mira who carries Juvia in her Satan Soul form and Laxus who is taking Gajeel with him in lightning form, luckily in this form the lightning doesn't hurt Gajeel.

While running through the Labyrinth Lucy catches a glimpse at Team A who is attacking other groups to get their maps. Normally she would have maybe helped them but her anger towards the most of the Team stopped her from doing so. Just before she runs around a corner she sees that Elfman is there instead of Wendy, where is Wendy? Immediately she worries for the little girl and hopes that nothing bad has happened to her.

After a few more minutes they see a door before them and that another Team is already sprinting at the door, they all gave it their all. Laxus forming himself and Gajeel completely in lightning to teleport to the door with him. Mira speeds up her flight to let it seem as she herself is teleporting too. And Lucy pushes more magic than ever before in her glasses to run even faster, the world around her blurs together until she just sees flecks of where she is, the only thing she sees is the open door with her Team members waiting for her. And already in the next second she is running through the door, right into Laxus.

They crashes to the ground, the speed of Lucy to much for Laxus to stop and Lucy not having thought that someone would stand in her way before she can stop herself.

Lucy lays on top of Laxus who had wrapped his arms tightly around her to protect her from the fall. They lay there completely stunned, Laxus pulls her tighter to himself checking with his senses if she is hurt somewhere, relaxing a bit when he finds nothing. After that he just breathes in her scent and relishes in the feeling of her in his arms once again, even better now, the feeling of her laying on top of him.

Lucy too snuggles unconsciously to him before realizing what she is doing, whispering a short "Our plan!" and jumps up from him, taking a few steps away from him in the process. Laxus lays there confused, just a few moments ago he had her in his arms and everything was just perfect and then she was gone. Something inside of him wanted to growl at that, but he could stop the actual growl from escaping him as her words registered and he remembers there plan to fool the others.

The others of the Team watching the seen unfold before them, especially Mira had once again hearts in her eyes, thinking that they are finally speaking again and maybe are a couple. Her imagination instantly begins to produce all the little babies they could have together, that is until Lucy jumps away from Laxus and then even takes a few more steps away from him. Mira's dreams fall apart and she once again starts planning how she should help them to become a couple, the babies would just be to adorable.

All this happened in just a few seconds but these seconds were enough for the other Team to arrive.

"Fairy Tail Team B is first and Sabertooth is second, wow this is the first time they are not first!", the pumpkin-man speaks up.

Lucy who stands a the side immediately brightens up, she wanted to stay in Laxus arms longer damn it, and starts jumping up and down yelling again and again "We did it!"

She desperately wanted to jump in Laxus arms, maybe this plan wasn't such a good idea after all, but refrains from it and instead jumps in Juvia's and Gejeel's arms who stood next to each other.

"You all can go back to your hotels now and get some sleep before the Game starts tomorrow. And please tell no one which place you got, we want it to be a surprise for everyone, even the other Teams. We didn't thought that more than one Team would arrive here at the same time."

The Sabertooth members who glared the whole time at them turned around and vanish without a word.

Lucy turns once again to her own Team and they start their track back to the hotel, to finally get some much needed sleep.

Before falling asleep Lucy and Laxus exchange one last secret glance and then fall in a deep and peaceful sleep, Dreams filled with the other person.


	8. First Game

So to let you all know, there will be some changes with the GMG.  
I won't describe most of the battles when no one from Fairy Tail is fighting.  
I do hope that I can write some decent fighting scenes...  
And don't worry, Lucy and Laxus will get their revenge in the Games, so be prepared for some changes among the Teams ;)

* * *

The next morning both, Lucy and Laxus, woke up with a smile. It's been a very long time since they were able to sleep this good, for Laxus even better since Lucy's scent was all over the room and lulled him effectively in his best sleep ever.

Lucy woke up first, still in her training schedule, and gets ready to finally find out what happened to Wendy. It's still a few hours until the Games begin so she should have enough time to do so. Lucy is one-hundred percent sure that Wendy didn't have to do anything with the plan from the rest of her Team, or formally Team? She isn't really sure if she will be able to work with them again...

Her first idea was to look in the infirmary and that's exactly where she is going right now. Arriving just a little later Lucy enters and sees Wendy and Carla laying in the beds, both looking extremely pale. Lucy goes as quiet as possible to Wendy's bed and sits down in the chair, taking the hand of her little sister in her own.

She knows she shouldn't try and wake her up, so she just sits there holding her little hand, hoping to offer her some comfort in her sleep. Then Wendy suddenly starts to whimper in her Dreams and a sole tear runs down her face while a whispered "Carla" leaves her. Lucy stands up and goes around Wendy's bed to the one where Carla lays and gingerly scoops Carla up in her arms to lay her in Wendy's arms. Afterwards Wendy calms a little down and snuggles with her but Lucy sees that she is still not completely calm again.

So she does the only thing she can think about. Lucy carefully crawls in bed beside her and hugs both of them close to her. Wendy turns in her sleep and presses her nose against Lucy's chest, Carla trapped between both of them but not squished. Smelling who is holding her Wendy relaxes further and is finally able to go back to her peaceful sleep.

Half a hour later Laxus storms into the infirmary, looking for Lucy. After waking up and not seeing her anywhere close he gets ready as fast as possible and follows her scent. He realizes which direction she was going and begins to panic, did something happen to her? Why is she in the infirmary?

He was just about to speak up when Lucy hushes him, gesturing with her chin down at the sleeping Wendy. And then it clicks for Laxus, he too noticed that Wendy was missing yesterday and should have thought that Lucy would want to find out what happened to the little girl. He quietly goes to the chair Lucy sat earlier in and sits down, still trying to calm down from his own panic to find her missing in the morning.

They talk quietly with one another and another half hour later Porlyusica shows up. She stops dead in her tracks when she sees that other are already there and just wanted to shoo them out and scream at them she spots Wendy peacefully sleeping in Lucy's arms.

"She had some sort of Nightmare, so I tried to calm her down. Please, tell us what happened to her?", Lucy looks at her with pleading eyes.

"We are not sure what happened to her. All we know is that she was attacked yesterday while visiting the Castle-Gardens, someone sucked all of hers and Carlas magic out of them. Leaving them unconscious behind, we can be happy that they did hurt them further after they were defenseless. Theoretical they are okay, but it will probably take sometime for them to replenish their magic, a few days perhaps, so I am not sure if she will be able to fight in the Games.", Porlyusica gazes down at the little girl with a sad look, she had after all taking some liking to her.

"All that matters is that she will get better soon. And when I find out who did something like this to them they will pay!", Lucy releases a dark aura, thinking about possible ways to hurt the ones who hurt her sister. Both Laxus and Porlyusica flinches back a little at the wicked look in her eyes, what happened to the sweet and kind girl? Since when is Lucy like this? They don't know that she always had this side in her. Only her own Team, especially Natsu and Gray, had seen this side before when they once again did something to really piss her of. The only thing that changed now is that Lucy feels way more confident in her own abilities and as a result lets this side out more often.

As soon as Wendy begins to whimper again Lucy stops and calms her again, quickly changing from devil to the sweet and kind girl they all know.

Soon after Lucy and Laxus needs to get going when they want to meet up with their Team for breakfast.

* * *

Everyone is excitedly waiting for the Teams to be announced.

The first ones who were announced was Fairy Tail Team A, the whole crowd booed at them.

Next is Quatro Cerberus, Mermaid Heel, Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale. All these Guild got more of a happy greeting and now finally the top three will announced, wondering who could be up there.

Raven Tail is announced next and all of Fairy Tail can only stare at them, a very bad feeling building up in them. All of them knows that this is a Dark Guild so how can they participate? Fairy Tail is furious, they know this is the Guild of Ivan, Laxus evil father, just before they can attack them, it is announced that they are now a legal Guild. They send some threatening glances at them and the announcer continues quickly.

The whole crowd is shocked when Sabertooth came next, they very completely sure that they would be first as always. Who could be strong enough to beat them, all are looking full of anticipation to the last opening. Completely flabbergasted when another Fairy Tail Team is announced.

"And first, Fairy Tail Team B. They were just a few seconds faster than Sabertooth. And yes, it is allowed to enter with two Teams!" On the sidelines Makarov is seen cackling in glee, very proud of himself for this idea and that the other Team got first. That should teach the people some to not laugh at them.

Team Natsu at first thought that now that Lucy and Laxus are on the same Team they are finally talking with each other again but then they noticed Lucy still standing as far away from him as possible talking animatedly with Juvia. They are torn, they want to win this, meaning they need to beat them too, but their guilt towards them let them think about this. On the other hand, when they are not talking and Laxus is distracted with her they might have a chance to beat him.

All Teams are back on their balcony and waiting for the start.

The first Game is Hidden, which ended pretty bad for Team A. The participant from Raven Tail was going constantly after Gray, giving him no chance to really do anything before being attacked once again. All from Fairy Tail, even Lucy and Laxus, were furious about this.

At first Juvia didn't do a much better job, jumping at the many Gray-sama's and loosing some points like this. But then Lucy encourages her, "Come on Juvia, do your best! I believe in you! You can do that! And think about what Gray might be doing when he sees how good you are!" This was of course a little sneaky on her part but it worked none the less.

Imagines of how Gray will come to her and congratulate her after winning and then asking her to marry him because she is just so good that he wants to be with her for ever appears in her head.

Juvia changes into her water body and continues her way around town like this. Sending out a thin layer of water on the ground around her she is now able to sense an opponent and their movements. As soon as one opponent would step in to her territory she would flow through the water and appear behind him or her and attack with Water Cane. As soon as the opponent was hit she would once again turn into her water body and search out her next opponent. A few times she finds Nullpudding and takes her own little revenge on him for attacking her Gray-sama. The only one she wasn't able to hit was Rufus Lore, since she couldn't sense him one time in her territory.

Rufus seeing that there is one opponent who already has so many points enters the Game and sends the first "A Night of Falling Stars"out much sooner then he thought he needed too.

Juvia completely in her element is able to avoid the attack by surrounding herself with Water Lock as a protective shield.

The crows is standing completely flashed with the happening. Who would have thought that Fairy Tail has such a strong mage? A mage who is able to avoid Rufus well known attack.

Many of the Fairy Tail members are equally surprise by the display of power from Juvia, they all know that she is strong but they had never seen her fight like this before. Lucy just smiles proudly at her friend, always having know what strength she possessed, having witnessed it herself on multiple times.

The Game ended with Rufus still winning, he had send two more attacks out and gaining 18 points in total. But Juvia was not so far behind him, gaining second place for her Team.

Behind her are Nullpudding, Lyon, Eve, Beth and Jäger. Gray getting last because of the constant attacks from Nullpudding.

Gray of course is very disappointed in himself for getting no points for his Team but before he leaves to join his Team again he congrats Juvia for her gaining second place and tells her that he thinks she did a very good job. He hugs her shortly before going back to his booth. Juvia in heaven from the short display of affection from her Gray-sama practically floats back to her own Team, an aura of complete happiness surrounding her.

There she immediately jumps in Lucy's arms and thanks her over and over again for the encouragement and for believing in her. Lucy just smiles gently at her new found friend, of course they were friend before but they had reached a new level of friendship, and holds her in her own arms.

After all competitors were back at their own balcony and the crowd had calmed down from the excitement over this new development somewhat, it was announced that there will be a little break now and afterwards the Battles will begin.

The Teams leave their booth to meet up with their Guild to have a little lunch before they had to battle. Everyone of them wondering who would be fighting.

And some even wondering if the one from yesterday, the one who released this gentle magic, is going to fight or if the mage is even in the Games at all.

But most of them were hoping to be chosen to fight, all wanting to show their own strength, especially the Fairy Tail mages wanted to show their true strength.


	9. Lisanna vs Flare

Sadly I wasn't able to update yesterday. But I hope that I can finish another Chapter later today and upload that as well.

Have fun with this Chapter and please bear with my fighting scenes. I have a feeling that sadly I'm not really good at writing them.

* * *

During the break, both Team Natsu and the Thunder God Tribe, were closely watching Lucy and Laxus. Witnessing that Lucy breaks away from her Team as soon as possible and goes over to Levy, who sits in a far corner reading a book. They interpret this just like Lucy and Laxus wanted them to do, thinking that Lucy is still avoiding him. And Laxus once again sends her a sad look, which the Teams of course see, wanting nothing more than to eat together with her. They once again feel how the guiltiness is building up in them, all looking away in shame. And once again they are determined to help Laxus, no matter what.

* * *

After the break the crowd is slowly filling the Domus Flau once again and the competitors going back to their balconies.

All are excited for the battles, which will finally start now.

"There will be a time limit of thirty minutes, the winner gets 10 ten points and the loser 0, if the fight ends in a draw both will get 5 points. And now, our first battle of the Day will be Lisanna Strauss from Fairy Tail Team A versus Flare Corona from Raven Tail!"

The crowd is roaring with excitement. They all have seen the tension between both Teams yesterday and can't wait to see what will happen in this fight.

They meet up in the center, both completely determined to win this, but both having different reasons for wanting to win.

As soon as the fight starts, they jump a few steps back.

Flare sends her hair to Lisanna to get a hold on her, but Lisanna had changed into her Animal Soul: Cat and is cutting trough the hair with her claws and keeps avoiding the multiple wisps with her speed.

Lisanna sees an opening and turns into Animal Soul: Harpy, she flies as fast as possible to Flare to attack her with he claws. In the last moment Flare protects herself with her hair which she had turned in a shield above her. Lisanna thinking that she can cut through the hair like before follows through with the attack and just as she reaches the hair Flare sets it on fire, effectively burning Lisanna's feet and legs.

Flare holds her there above her while further burning her, not letting Lisanna go while she screams in pain. Lisanna hopes that when she turns into Animal Soul: Penguin, Flare won't be able to hold the weight. And she was right, Lisanna falls down on top of Flare, who looses in her own surprise the grip on Lisanna, who finally can escape the flaming hair. She once again turns into Animal Soul: Cat and brings some distance between them, there she waits for Flare's next move.

Flare slowly recovers and stands up again. She knows that when the fight will continue like this, it will end either with a draw or her loosing, so she digs her hair through the sand surrounding them.

Everyone waits excitedly what will happen know, but nothing happens. Lisanna is just looking around her waiting for the hair to attack her from the ground a Flare has this crazy grin on her face.

Lisanna was just about to attack Flare again to cut through her hair when Flare points in the direction of the Fairy Tail booth. Lisanna stops her attack and looks anxiously over, already having a bad feeling about this. And this bad feeling was proven right, when she spots a wisps of her beside Asuka. She screams her name to warn them or more she tries to scream the name since in the moment she is distracted Flare wraps her hair around her mouth, effectively cutting her up from saying anything else.

Flare slams her around and Lisanna crashes to the ground, contemplating what she could do now that Asuka is in danger. Should she give up? Is that the only way to save the little girl?

Just as she wants to speak up, Flare once again wraps her hair around her mouth, not letting her speak. And that's when Lisanna sees the evil glint in her eyes, this one glint tells her everything, Flare won't just let her give up. No Flare wants to "play" with her.

Lisanna is lifted in the air with a wisp of hair around her arms and legs, Flare let go of the wisp around her mouth and confirms Lisanna's fear. Flare tells her that she isn't allowed to speak but she can scream all she wants. She looks around with pleading eyes, hoping that someone would help her, that someone would save Asuka so that she can take down Flare for threatening the little girl.

And that's when Flare ups the Game, turning her own her in the Raven Tail Guild-mark, she sets the mark on fire speaks out loud the possibilities where she could mark Lisanna. She spots her current Fairy Tail mark on her left thigh and lowers her hair down to set the mark on this spot.

Just before the wisp can touch her thigh she hears Natsu scream that Asuka is save now and finally she is able to fight back.

"Now I will show you what real fire is like! This might not be the strongest fire but it's definitely stronger than yours! Animal Soul: Phoenix!" Fire erupts all around Lisanna as she turns into the new form she learned while training.

The crowed looked in awe as Lisanna is completely covered in flames. Then the flames slowly reveal her with a complete new outfit. Lisanna wears a golden metallic bodice which looks similar to Mirajane's Satan Soul. Her arms are covered in golden gloves and her feet are adorned with black and golden boots. Her hair has gotten longer and flies freely behind are. But the one thing that leaves everyone really in awe are the red-golden wings which has sprout from her back and are looking like actual flames. If you listen closely you can even hear the fire crackling, which proves that her wings are really made from flames.

When the fire had erupted from her it burned the hair, which was holding her, away and now Lisanna is flying with her wings. Flare steps a scared step back, not knowing what to do now since practically no fire can hurt a Phoenix.

"Oh, great Phoenix.  
Purify me and my enemies.  
Lend me your flame and ignite the power that dwells within me.  
Deep within my soul lives a bird of pure passion,  
let it be unleashed,  
so I can defeat these who did wrong,  
and avenge the innocent.  
Burning Fire of the Phoenix,  
Attack!"

While Lisanna recites her spell golden and red flames are erupting all around her, covering more and more ground. The flames are growing and growing all around them, slowly closing in on Flare who tries to protect her sell from the flames with her hair, but her hair gets burned every time. You can see the fear clearly on Flares Face.

As Lisanna finishes her spell, her flames attack Flare who has no chance to avoid this attack. Flare is surrounded everywhere by flames, feeling the heat, feeling how the flames begin to lick at her skin and just before she is completely engulfed in the flames and defeated all the flames vanishes suddenly and Lisanna falls down to the ground, seemingly defeated.

The whole crowd is disappointed and laughs at Lisanna's defeat while Lisanna lays crying on the Ground.

Nobody knows it but Raven Tail cheated and sucked her magic out just before her spell was able to defeat Flare. The only ones that knows that something happened was Fairy Tail and some other stronger mages who were able to feel the magic interfere from the outside. But sadly nobody is able to prove this so Flare is announced as the winner of the match.

Team A runs to Lisanna and brings her to the infirmary, wehre Porlyusica takes care of her, telling them that this is the same thing that happened to Wend and Carla.

* * *

Outside in the arena the battles continue with Ren versus Arana, with Ren winning. Followed by Warcry versus Orga, with Orga winning.

Team A just came back from the infirmary when the next battle is announced.

"And our last battle for the day will be, oh that will be a very interesting match. Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail Team B versus Jura Neekis from Lamia Scale! Can Lucy hold her own against a wizard saint or will he crush her? We will see the answer to that question in just a few minutes!"


	10. Lucy vs Jura

I really hope that I somehow was able to describe the fight between Lucy and Jura you were so eager to see. I hope I was able to describe the fight good enough so that you can imagine the whole scene.  
Please tell me what you think about it!

* * *

"Lucy? You need to get down in the arena! We all wish you good luck, do your best down there!", Mira shakes Lucy out of her own shock. Lucy just nods and begins walking in a trance like state. She knows that she is way stronger now than before but could she really hold her own against Jura? Is she really good enough? She needs a tactic!

 _"Jura uses Earth Magic. I should have the perfect Spirits to fight him, but are they strong enough? No, am I strong enough to give them enough strength to fight him? All I can do is try and give it my best!"_

Finally coming out of her trance like state she hears the disappointed murmurs in the crowd, they all hoped that Jura had to fight a strong opponent like Laxus or Erza. She hears more and more of these boos, every word she hears eats away her self-confidence until she reaches a point where Lucy all confidence leaves her to step in the arena.

"Blondie!", Lucy turns around and there is Laxus. "Lucy.", Laxus mutters and pulls her in his arms. Lucy let him hold her and slowly relaxes against him while breathing in his comforting scent, he smells like the air outside after a thunderstorm.

"I know you hear what these stupid people out there say but don't listen to them! They don't know you! They don't know how strong you are, to be exact, nobody knows how strong you are now after your training. Jura will probably underestimate you, use that against him and show them all your true strength! You are smart, you are able to outsmart nearly everyone, use this against him. And know, that even if you loose against him we all and that won't change that we all love you, we are Fairy Tail! So go out there and show them the true power of Fairy Tail, show them to never laugh at us again and show them that with the strength of family and friend you can do everything!", Laxus tells her while holding her close to him. "And most of all, remember that I believe in you!", he murmurs against her hair. Lucy stands there wide eyes, not having thought that he really thinks so highly of her. "Thanks Laxus, that is exactly what I needed!", she murmurs against his chest. In reaction her pulls her even closer and presses a light kiss on top of her head, he just could stop himself from doing so.

Lucy feels a blush rising in reaction to the kiss she felt him giving her and snuggles closer to him, to hide this blush. Laxus couldn't stop his own blush and is happy that she isn't able to see that.

"Thanks for cheering me up Laxus. I think I need to go now!", and once again Lucy rises to give him a small peck on his left cheek before turning around and practically sprinting away from him, to ashamed to face him now.

And once again Laxus is left behind with a heavy blush and touch his face where he still feels the lingering touch of her soft lips. Oh how he wished she would have kissed his lips instead but this is pretty good too. He wachtes as she slows down when she reaches the entrance to the arena and then slowly and calmly walks to Jura. Her prior nervousness seemingly completely vanished after his encouragement. And how it makes him happy that it was him who could calm her down and forget about the crowd, he practically purrs from this feeling in his chest.

As soon as Lucy stands in front of Jura Laxus sprints back to his booth to watch her fight. He watches as they both greet one another, step back to bring some distance between them, how Lucy's face changes from her normal happy face to completely determined and concentrated and then the fight begins.

The first things Lucy does is requiping her boots and sunglasses, what luckily doesn't use any magic at all because the bracelet has magic of his own which Lucy just needs to refill from time to time.

With bated breath everyone waits who will attack first and with what move, the crowd still doesn't knowing which magic Lucy uses.

Jura makes the first move, wanting to test her out. He creates several rock pillars and sends one to Lucy at a fast speed but she is able to avoid them with the speed she gains through her sunglasses. As next he sends two pillars, which Lucy can avoid once again through speed.

He sends more and more pillars at her, wanting to test her speed and agility. And then it happens, Lucy isn't fast enough to avoid a pillar. But, to the shock of everyone present, all she does is spin on her left leg and deliver a roundhouse-kick to to pillar, shattering him in the process.

Everyone gabs at her, she just kicked his rock pillar and shattered the pillar, how strong is this girl? You need a great deal of strength to do this and speed to be able to avoid all these pillars.

Lucy uses this moment. She requips her gloves and sprint to Jura, wanting to try and land a hit. She knows that she won't be able to defeat him on her own, she knows that she needs her Spirits but she wants to see how far she comes on her own.

Just before she reaches him Jura casts Talus to protect himself. Lucy pushes more magic in both the gloves and the boots before colliding with the rocks surrounding him. A blinding light breaks out and you can hear crashing. As everyone is able to see again they look in awe as Lucy stands there with her still glowing fist a mere inch away from his face, the rocks having stopped her movement so she wasn't able to reach him.

Jura to stands there wide eyed, never would he have thought that she will be able to fight him an such a level. He begins to feel excited about this match, maybe she really will be a good opponent, he should start to really fight.

Lucy sees the change in his eyes just a little to late. His own fist collides with her and she flies back, crashing to the ground. There she lays dazed for a moment, really happy that the increase of strength also means that her whole body is strengthened and with that able to handle something like this hit with only minor damage.

Laxus in his places flinches as he sees Lucy getting hit with such force. He really hopes that she will be able to stand up again and continue the fight, what she had shown until now impressed him greatly and he, like everyone else, wanted to see what she is capable of. Never would have anyone thought that this little girls is really able to deliver a good fight against Jura.

Coming out of her daze Lucy stands up once again, she looks shortly to the timer and sees that half of the time is already up. She needs to really start and call her Spirits and she knows which Spirits will be best to fight Jura.

"Open, Virgo and Cepheus!" _"Virgo, please go in the earth and wait for the right moment to do anything are safe me if necessary. And Cepheus lets show him and all of them a real Earthen King!"_

Both nod and Virgo disappears like asked of her in the earth under her, Cepheus stands next to her waiting for any threat.

From the Yajima you can hear his awe that Lucy is able to call more than one Spirit at the same time since calling for Spirits and holding their Gates open costs a great amount of magic. Chapati asks if there is a difference because she called a Gold and a Silver Key. Yajima explains that Gold Keys cost way more magic than Silver Keys to open but all depends on what magic they use and how much, because every attack they do is done with Lucy's own magic.

Most of the people watching, non mages and mages from Guild, are looking in astonishment at Lucy. They all always thought that Celestial Magic is weak but never have they thought that there is so much magic behind it.

The thoughts stop as Jura casts his next attack. "Iron Rock Fist!"

Lucy knows that she is not able to destroy this rock fist with her strength so she let Cepheus handle this. He, being the Earthen King, has a great control of earth himself. And with the magic power Lucy possesses he is strong like never before, this Iron Rock Pillar is no problem for him at all, he just direct the fist right back to Jura.

The crowd is once again left gaping as the Iron Rock Fist from Jura flies back and forth between them, the Spirit seemingly having no problem at all to control the earth.

Virgo uses this moment of concentration from Jura to pop out under him, resulting in Jura falling inside of the hole. The Iron Rock Fist follows Jura inside of the hole, thanks to Cepheus, where it collides with a protective Rock Wall, which Jura was able to erect just in time.

"Open, Sculptor!" _"Cepheus make some pillars which Sculptor can form into replicas of me to confuse Jura. Please set them up all around the arena as some sort of shield. Sculptor you can try if you can work on the rock from Jura if necessary. There isn't much time left, so we need to hurry!"_

They immediately begins to work while Jura is still in the hole where Virgo had trapped him in her chains to hinder him from instantly returning to the surface.

To the surprise of many the rock pillars turn in true copies of Lucy once Sculptor is finished working on them, color and everything else somehow changing.

When Jura is finally free again he looks for a moment around confused with the many Lucy's. But Jura just casts "Rock Avalanche" and turns most of the sculptors into his own weapon. The many boulders everywhere he sends in every direction to destroy more of the sculptors in the process and to determine where Lucy is.

Cepheus is able to able to brings most of the boulders into is own control put can't stop all of them, some colliding with Lucy who isn't fast enough to avoid all.

Once more Lucy lays on the ground breathing heavily. The use of this much magic starting to take it's toll on her while Jura looks a little shaken but still as if he as much more magic. Lucy knows that she needs to start her final attack after seeing that there are only five minutes left.

So she stands up again, sends Virgo and Cepheus back, to preserve some of her magic since she knows that she needs her magic for what will come now, and begins to cast her most powerful spell.

"Survey the Heavens,  
Open the Heavens..."

Jura like all the other mages notice the strong increase of magic pressure around Lucy. They all know that what ever will come no will probably decide this fight if Jura isn't able to stop this attack.

"All the stars, far and wide...  
Show me thy appearance...  
With such shine."

The pressure around her is still increasing and in an attempt from stopping Lucy to finish casting this spell her sends several boulders at Lucy, similar to his Supreme King Rock Crush he solidifies the rocks around her. And for a moment nothing happens. But they all have forgotten that one of her Spirits is still there to help her. And Sculptor immediately begins to work on the rock trapping her. With his hammer and chisel he breaks away the rocks until Lucy is free. And like nothing happened she continued to cast her spell.

"Oh Tetrabiblos...  
I am the ruler of the stars... "

The magic circle which appeared before under Lucy starts to emit a golden glow.

"Aspect become complete...  
Open thy malevolent gate."

The glow around Lucy becomes brighter and brighter. Some of the mages gap in surprise, realizing that this feels like the magic from yesterday, just with more force behind it.  
There is just one minute left.

"Oh 88 Stars of the heaven...  
Shine!"

Lucy opens her eyes and you can see golden magic circles in them. It seems as if the world around them stops. All are looking around in awe, it looked like Lucy had brought the universe down to them with several spheres in different colors all around them. And then Lucy speaks her last words.

"Urano Metria!"

The spheres which had floated in the air zooms to Lucy before all at once speeding up and attacking Jura.  
There are just a few seconds left before the time is up.

"Talus!" Jura erect more Rock Walls around him to protect him from the incoming attack.

The spheres destroy one wall after the other. The number of attacking spheres decreasing after every destroyed Rock Wall. There are still enough spheres left to destroy the remaining Rock Walls and still hit Jura, and with the force behind the attack he would be knocked down. Everyone knows that if he is hit, he will loose.

Everyone waits with bated breath, just two more Walls to destroy before reaching him. Jura pours more of his magic into his two last remaining Walls to strengthen them.

With a crash one Wall is down.

The spheres flies to the next and last Rock Wall. Jura closes his eyes, knowing he will be hit every second and there is nothing he can do against it. Even though he knows this, he still pours more of his magic into the last Wall, hoping against all odds that this will somehow be enough.

"Times up!"

The spheres had destroyed the last Rock Wall and were just about to knock out Jura when this announcement was made.

Lucy was able to cancel the spell before Jura was hit, panting heavily since casting the spell and then stopping it had cost her almost all of her magic.

Both fall to there knees, panting heavily. Jura didn't thought that he had to use this much magic in this fight. If he only had not underestimated her.

"It's a draw! It's really a draw! Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail Team B was able to bring Iron Rock Jura down to his knees! And we all know that she would have won this match if the time wasn't up! Wow, just wow! This is really amazing. A draw, I can't believe it myself! Unbelievable that there is such a strong mage in Fairy Tail!"

While Chapati keeps talking, Lucy and Jura heaves themselves up to shake their hands and have a little talk on their own.

Jura congratulates her for almost winning against him and tells her that it has been a long time since he had so much fun in a fight and that he wished he had taken her more serious from the beginning.

Lucy thanks him and smiles brightly at him, still not believing herself that she almost won against him. She tells him that she had hoped he would underestimate her so she had possibility to maybe overpower him.

Having finished with their talk they turn to go back to their respective Team.

Chapati gives a short summary of the Day and some information for tomorrow and the Domus Flau slowly empties. You could her the people talk about the Battles, most of all about Lucy and her fight against Jura.

Even the other mages are talking about her and her strength, more and more connecting her with the magic from the previous day.

* * *

The whole Fairy Tail Guild waits for Lucy at the entrance where she entered previously. She is pulled in hug after hug, most crying over her almost win and asking her when she became this strong.

The last, aside from Laxus who watches from the sidelines, is Master who cries too. He jumps into her arms where her cries some more, telling her how proud he is.

Even though Lucy could only get a draw she is really proud of herself too, after all she was fighting one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Trough her connection with her Spirits she knows that they are very proud of her as well.

Lucy didn't even realize that she was pulled away from the Domus Flau back to the Bar Sun, where a party breaks out true Fairy Tail style.

Lucy stays for a while before she says her goodbye. She is still completely exhausted from her fight and wants nothing more than to fall in her bed. Well, maybe there is one thing she wants even more, time with Laxus, a hug from him right now sound pretty good to her. But she knows there is now way for this to happen so she trots back to their hotel.

"Hey Blondie, let me help you!", and with that he lifts her up to carry her princess style. How comes that he always shows up when she needs him?

"La.. Laxus! I can go on my own! Let me down!", Lucy stutters and blushes a deep red.

"Come on Lucy, let me help you. You are completely exhausted.", he grips her tighter and begins walking.

"Laxus!", and even though she says this she still grips tighter onto him and snuggles closer, resting her head against his shoulder. "Thank you.", she whispers against him.

Laxus of course hears this and can't stop a smile from spreading over his face, he must look like a love-struck fool right now but he doesn't really care. All that matters to him is that he holds Lucy in his arms and that she is alright.

While walking to their hotel he realizes that Lucy had fallen asleep in his arms, which brings a new smile to his face. _She is comfortable enough around me to fall asleep in my arms._ Laxus is happy, truly happy. He isn't so sure if he will be able to follow trough with his own plan to wait a little longer to ask her out.

Arriving at the hotel he somehow openes the door to their room where gently lays her down on her own bed. He goes to change is own clothes in the bathroom and when he comes back he sees Virgo vanishing and that Lucy is wearing her own sleepwear.

He carefully sits down at her bed and gazes down at her, not able to stop his hand which reaches out to brush away some of her hair from her face.

Laxus sits there for a while, just watching her sleep and breathing in her send while always touching her in someway, be it to brush a wisp from her face and then letting his finger linger on her soft skin or holding her hand in his own.

Some times later he hear that the rest of the Team is on their way to their room, he knows that they shouldn't see him like that.

So he leans down, brushes his own lips shortly over her cheek, not wanting to just steal a kiss from her, and then stands up to go over to his own bed where he lays down, pretending to sleep.


	11. Chariot

Laxus didn't know that Mira had long planned her next step to bring these two together. He didn't know that he had fallen asleep much faster the night before than he was aware of. And he definitely didn't know that he had fallen in such a deep sleep that he didn't notice as someone moved him while sleeping.

No if he would have known he would have tried to somehow stop all this, but instead he woke up feeling completely content and pulls Lucy involuntary closer in his half-sleep like state, snuggling even further in her hair.

Since this was around the time Lucy usually woke up to train she was already on her way to wake up but the motion behind her woke her up fully. She herself felt pretty content while being in the wake-up-phase but this motion greatly disturbed her. Who ever this is, is way to big to be Natsu and he is not as hot as Natsu is, on the contrary he has quite the perfect temperature. And even though, yes she can admit it, she feels pretty good in the arms of this someone holding her, there is no way she will just let this slide, she really hates it when people just invade her personal space and privacy.

So it came as no surprise that Lucy somehow turned around in the rather strong grip of Laxus and Lucy-kicked him out of her bed where he lands as a heap on the floor and looks dazed up to her. The events finally catching up to him and he blushed a bright red as he realizes that he really was in Lucy's bed and had hold her in their sleep and this wasn't just one of his Dreams. No the way he woke up clearly proves that this was no Dream at all. If that is a good thing or not he wasn't so sure. But going from the look on Lucy's face he would probably say that it wasn't a good thing, even though holding her and waking up beside her was really a Dream come true.

Lucy glares down at him, who does he think he is to just crawle in her bed like Natsu? She won't allow this behavior. They may be close and she may be in love with him or close to falling in love with him but this is unacceptable.

"I warn you now, this will not happen again! I will not let you just sleep in my bed with me, there is no way that this is in any way acceptable.", Lucy hisses and sends him one last glare before standing up, gathering a new set of clothes and goes to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Laxus still lays in a heap in front of her bed, still staring at the place where Lucy was just seconds ago, the place where he lay together with her and had her in his arms. He clearly remembers the glare she sent him and the feelings that glare triggered in him is something her really doesn't like. Something inside of him cried out after the seemingly rejection, even though he knows that this is no real rejection it somehow feels like it and he doesn't like it at all.

In the shower Lucy scrubs herself extra hard, she knows that the other Slayers are probably able to smell Laxus on her and that won't do their plan anything good. She hopes that she will be able to get rid of his scent on her as much as she loves his scent.

As she steps out of the bathroom sometime later, Laxus is already waiting in front of the door with a rejected and sad expression on his face, seeing this she somehow feels bad.

"Hey good morning Laxus. Sorry for being so harsh to you! But I never liked it when Natsu sneaked into my bed in the middle of the night and this reminded me of this. And since I know what he and my Team did I believe I projected some of this anger on you because this was just like with Natsu nearly every morning.", Lucy stands ashamed in front of him, not able to look at his face, and really hopes that he isn't to angry with her.

"It's alright, I understand your reaction. I would probably react pretty much the same when I would suddenly wake up with someone in my bed. And just so you know, I didn't do it on purpose. I clearly remember falling asleep in my own bed and I really don't know how I ended up in your bed.", he too can't look at her.

"Hey, uhm, I know you Slayers have pretty good noses so why don't try to smell on yourself or my bed if you can figure out if someone moved you. If I should guess than this was one of Mira's matchmaker plans and I really think that she did go to far if she is behind this!", Lucy sends an annoyed glare to Mira's sleeping form.

Not having thought about it before, Laxus begins to sniff the air around Lucy's bed, his own bed and himself. And Lucy was right, everywhere is the lingering scent of Mira, smelling further on his clothes he smells her clearly in him clothes as if she had somehow dragged him to Lucy's bed.

"You are right, this probably was one of Mira's schemes.", he turns his own head to send Mira his own annoyed glare.

"We will get her back for this, I promise you that. But you probably should take a shower now. Oh and try to wash away my scent on you, we all know of the Slayers good nose so Natsu will probably think that everything is good between us when he smells you on me.", and finally Laxus realizes what had irked him since Lucy had stepped out from the bathroom. His own scent on her was gone and he wants it back there, he really liked that she smelled like him. But she, of course, was right, they want their revenge on them and a part was to trick them into believing that she is still avoiding him. And nobody would believe that she is avoiding him when they smell like one another. So he nods at her and then closes the bathroom door behind him.

* * *

Lucy leaves the room to once again look how Wendy is. Arriving at the infirmary she sees Lisanna laying in the bed besides Wendy's. Lucy forgot that Lisanna's magic was sucked out to like Wendy's. She really hopes that they will become better soon.

She further realizes that neither Wendy nor Lisanna will be able to partake in the Games, so Team A needs someone to take over their spot in the Team. And slowly plan begins to form in her mind.

She turns around to leave and find Master to speak with him about her plan since she will need his help and permission for this plan.

But Lucy didn't realize that she had spent quite sometime in the infirmary and now needs to go to the Domus Flau before the second day starts without her. Hopefully this can wait until later.

On her way up she buys a quick breakfast and the requips her sunglasses to arrive in time.

* * *

Lucy arrived just in time to hear that the next Game is Chariot and that Gajeel wants to partake in this Game because Natsu does too.

"Oh no Gajeel, you will not just partake in this Game because Natsu does too! Did you even listen what the Games name is? Chariot? That already implies that this has something to do with transportation. And please don't deny it, I know that you aren't good on transportation. So think about it if you really want to participate in this Game.", Lucy steps in before Gajeel can go. She really wants to win and she would nearly do everything to accomplish this goal, especially when she can beat her traitorous Team.

"But I want to beat Natsu!", Gajeel contradicts. "Yeah I know that you have this rivalry going on but don't you think it's better to win this whole Game and not just beat him in this Game? Don't you remember that the winner can make the losers do what they want for a whole day?"

At this Gajeel's eyes lit up before he gained an evil glint in his eyes and then nods that someone else should participate in this Game.

"I will go!", and before anyone else could say something Mira was already gone.

* * *

"I hate to say it but thanks Bunny Girl! This would probably have been the death of me. Now I can watch Natsu lose and laugh at him. Gihi!", Gajeel turns to Lucy who stands beside him, as soon as he sees and hears what this Game is about.

They all can see how Natsu turns pale and Lucy can't stop her own little evil snicker. Since Laxus told her what they did she has immense pleasure in seeing her Team, aside from Wendy and Carla of course, suffer. Of course she still doesn't wish them anything to bad but something like that right now, that's alright, perfect for some revenge. Even better, Natsu will be furious that Gajeel laughs at him and that their Team will lose against his. And he will even be more furious when he hears that the winner will get the other Team as their slaves for a whole day. At this thought Lucy smirks wickedly, oh she already knows what she will let her Team do.

As soon as the Game starts Mira transforms in her Satan Saul and flies of so fast that nobody able to follow her movements. To hinder her opponents further from catching up to her she halts and slashes the chariots with her tail to damage them.

With her immense speed Mira needs barely anytime at all to reach the finish line but her halting to damage to chariots slowed her down, but this still didn't stop her from arriving at the finish line long before anyone else arrives.

At the end of the line of chariots you can see Natsu and Sting, both giving it their all to beat the other and reach the finish line. But you can clearly see that Natsu is much more determined to win than Sting.

Everyone hears their talk, so of course Lucy and Laxus too. And yes Lucy is somewhat touched by Natsu's words but her own anger at him let her scoff at his words.

Here he speaks so highly of nakama and that he wants to win for his Fairy Tail family. But were was this attitude when they tried to destroy hers and Laxus friendship? Where was this thinking when they hurt them both more than anything else? Where was this kind of thinking when they broke her heart with their lies?

Lucy is still not completely sure what to feel about all this. Hurt? Anger? Sadness? Fury? Betrayal? Yes, definitely betrayal and probably all these other feelings too. How can she just continue with them like nothing happened?

She never really was the person for hurting others but she feels that they must pay, all of them. Her Team and the Thunder God Tribe. And maybe, maybe someday she will be able to forgive them.

Normally she is able to forgive people rather fast for what they did as long as they are truly sorry for their actions. But this, this is something different. They broke her trust in them and that is something they may never get back fully.

In the end it comes down to take revenge, she is still determined to follow through with her plan. All she needs to do is speak with Master,.

Natsu finally reached the finish line and Sting gave up, so Natsu got the first point for Team A.

* * *

Like yesterday they had a little lunch break before the battles start.

And like yesterday Team Natsu and the Thunder God Tribe watch the, non existing, interactions between Lucy and Laxus. But Team Natsu further notices that Lucy once again goes straight to Levy and not them.

Finally they feel a sad aura coming from Lucy too and realize that she is not so well like they thought before, probably the pain that is coming through. They knew that she was hurting, Natsu told them about it, but it seems that she has reaches a point were she isn't longer able to hide the pain completely. You need to know her very good to see the little indications but her Teams sees them clear as day.

All Lucy does at her place is thinking about her little sister, hoping that she will get better soon so she can at least watch the Games. And of course is Laxus too in her thoughts, but overall she is thinking how sad she is that her Team broke her trust and this feeling is what her Team sees on her face and misinterpret.


	12. Second Day - Battles

Her Team tried once again to speak with her about Laxus, but like the other times Lucy ignores them to further continue her plan. Lucy sees how desperate her Team wants to speak with her about Laxus but it wouldn't do any good if they told her now. Maybe she should let them explain to her why the did this but now she isn't ready to hear their apologies and explanations. She knows it's pretty nasty of her to let them suffer like that, but this is what they deserve in her opinion, just like she suffered.

As much as Lucy tried to talk with Master about her plan in the lunch break, she wasn't able to do it, she just couldn't find him.

So it came as a great surprise to her to see Wendy with Team A, sitting there but everyone knows that she will just watch the Games. Finally she knows where Master was during the break, he was in the infirmary looking after his brats and convincing Porlyusica to let Wendy watch the Games.

Asking him for help has to wait now till later, hopefully she will be able to speak with him before they make a decision.

* * *

The first battle is rather boring but shows once again how cruel Ravel Tail is, meaning Kurohebi wins against Toby from Lamia Scale.

The second battle is really intense. Elfman versus Bacchus from Quatro Cerberus. Just like yesterday in the battle between Lucy and Jura everyone waited with bated breath for their next step. In the end Elfman wins, barely but a win is a win. Sadly he his so hurt that he can't continue to participate in the Games.

Lucy feels really sorry for him, but this is just perfect for her own plan. She lets out an evil smirk, scaring Gajeel away in the process, and then thinks about how she should speak about it with Master.

She is still thinking when the next battle begins. The battle between Mira and Jenny from Blue Pegasus. Lucy is so consumed in her own thoughts that she didn't register that this is a different kind of battle until Gajeel is bold enough to throw her down to the battle field so she will participate like all the other girl already have.

Landing gracefully on her feet, she came just in time back from her own thoughts to land not on her butt, she turns around and glares up at Gajeel who just answers with his usual "Gihi!".

Lucy hadn't noticed before but nearly every girl from her girl already joined. And as she looks down at her she sees that she is only wearing a bikini like all the other girls.

Lucy participates like all the other girls, even having some fun of her own. She so much wants to look up to Laxus and look if he watches her. But she couldn't bear the thought that she will see him look at someone else, there are so many beautiful women participating, most so much more beautiful than she herself his, and so she looks everywhere but him.

Up in there booth Laxus is dying. He wants nothing more than to openly stare at her but thinks that she deserves better. And than there is this thoughts that he wants to jump down there and take her away so that no other guy can look at her with their leering eyes. She is just so beautiful and probably doesn't realize that many of the men can't take their eyes from her.

And damn he wants this all for himself! He can barely hold himself back from jumping down there and wrapping her in his coat so nobody can continue to look at her.

He nearly attacked Gajeel when he just throw her down and couldn't stop his low growl, but luckily the crowd has drowned it out so Gajeel didn't hear it.

All the possibilities down there, his imagination is running wild with pictures of him and Lucy alone while she is dressed like that.

Finally they have something on what covers more, but this is still somehow the worst outfit. Not because it's ugly or something like that.

No what's worse about this outfit are the feeling it awoke in him. Lucy in a beautiful wedding dress. The picture of her, floating to him in a dress like that with her beautiful smile directed only at him while he waits at the altar with his hand stretched out for her to take in her own.

Never before had he thought about wedding but this picture in his head looks perfect to him and just feels right. If she is the one he will marry, the picture couldn't be any better.

But what's really worse about this is that he doesn't know how she feels about him and he still has to wait to find out.

Down in the arena Lucy looks around as everyone finds himself a partner like it was instructed, oh how she wished that Laxus would jump down to her and whisk her away. But she knows that this will destroy her plan and she isn't even sure if he would want to be her partner.

And than she sees that Wendy too has no partner and suddenly she knows who would be perfect. She goes over to Wendy and takes out her Keys to call Loke and Leon.

"Oh my dear Princess, have you finally decided to elope?", Loke starts and goes down to his knee in front of her.

"Princess Wendy, would you do me the honor?", Lucy told Leon Wendy's name trough their link. And just like she thought, they look absolut adorable together.

Wendy blushes cutely and places her own and in the one Leon offers her. Leon pulls her closer ans starts to slowly dance with Wendy to the music that just had begun to play.

"Oh Loke, how long have I longed to run away with you and elope. Maybe now is finally the time!", Lucy plays along and winks at him. Loke bows and offers his own hand to Lucy which she takes and steps closer to him, they too start to dance slowly. Fortunately for Loke, Laxus knows that this is just some playful banter between them, otherwise he would have probably been fried already, something Laxus can barely stop himself from doing.

Besides Lucy and Loke, Wendy and Leon are dancing very cutely together. Leon is just like Loke, a flirting playboy but very gentleman like too. Lucy can't help herself and coos over them.

Lucy dances with Loke an just enjoys it, Loke is a really good dancer and she always loved dancing. But secretly she wished that it was Laxus who she is dancing with. Laxus himself too wished to be the one Lucy is dancing with, she looks so graceful in her movements. For her he would break his rule to not dance when anyone can see him.

All pairs dance to the song and then the males are send back. Laxus is really relieved when Loke finally stops touching Lucy and dancing with her. The next round was announced to be another swimsuit contest but Ooba Babasaama jumps down, wearing a swimsuit herself and destroys so the good mood.

Afterwards all girls aside from Mira and Jenny leaves the arena and the battle between them continued, with Mira ending the battle rather fast as the next theme is Battle Form, and she transforms into her Satan Soul: Sitri, knocking Jenny out with one hit. Now Jenny needs to pose nude, like they wagered before the battle started.

The last Battle of the day is Yukino from Sabertooth versus Kagura from Mermaid Heel.

Lucy watched in amazement as she sees that Yukino is a Celestial Mage and treats her Spirits not as tools. She is even surprised when Yukino takes out a Black Key, confirming that there really is a thirteens Zodiac. Lucy can see that Yukino is a strong Celestial Mage, she feels how much magic it takes to summon Ophiuchus. But sadly no one else really notice this and compared to Lucy Yukino does seem rather weak, but Lucy knows that this is not true.

In the end Yukino loses, her her live now lies in Kagura's hands like they wagered.


	13. Talk with Master

Some of you probably already have guessed it but I won't include the Eclipse-Gate in this story. This story will focus on how Lucy and Laxus will find back together and something big like the Eclipse-Gate is to much for me to write, especially since this originally started as a shortstory.

I'm really sorry for all these who hoped and waited for this but I won't write about it except I suddenly get a good idea how I can include it.

And now on with the story and have fun reading and thanks to all of you who write me a review, it always makes me smile and brightens up my day!

* * *

After the battles are finally over Lucy immediately begins her search for Master, wanting to speak with him about her plan.

She avoids everyone else from Fairy Tail who wants to speak with her about something. As she arrives at the Fairy Tail booth she sees that Master is already gone, next destination is Bar Sun, in hopes that he will be there.

And there sitting on the Bar she finally finds him.

"Master can we talk?" "Could that wait a little my child? I wanted to make an announcement as soon as everyone is here.", Master says. "Well, normally I would say yes but I believe that maybe this has something to do with your announcement. So I would like to speak with you first in privat."

Master looks her up and down, seemingly finding what he had searched for he nods and jumps down from the Bar. Lucy follows him into a little room, there he sets up a barrier so no one can hear them.

"So what is it you wanted to talk about, child?", Master looks curiously up at her. "I am sure that Laxus already told you that something happened between us?", Lucy looks down at him, waiting for a response.

"Yes, he told me that he needs to speak with you to explain something. But he never said what he needs to explain, why you avoided him and how this all started. Would you be so kind to...", Master answers but Lucy interrupts him, "Sorry Master, but if he didn't told you more then I will too not tell you everything. But I will tell you this, our Teams did something so that we had a, we can call it, misunderstanding. So we want to pay them back. And today I realized that Team A needs two more participants and maybe a new reserve if something happens. Team A consists of Team Natsu, and I wanted to ask you to make the Thunder God Tribe the replacements for the ones who can't continue. Maybe Freed and Bixlow can be the real participants and Evergreen the reserve, or you tell them that they should decide this on their own. But I would really appreciate it if you can make them participate."

"So you too won't tell me what happened?", Lucy just nods, "You must know that I really normally would never allow something like revenge... but... if we see this more like a competition than I guess it's okay!", Master looks at her with one of his goofy grins.

"That is just so typical for you Master...", Lucy shakes her head smiling, "But thank you! This means a lot to me and probably to Laxus too. And don't worry as angry as we are at them we would never hurt them to much. It will just be like a normal battle or brawl at the Guild just a bit harder and more serious if we have to fight one another. It's just they really hurt us with their actions... and...", tears start to gather in her eyes and she stops talking. As much has she had sealed all these emotions away, talking and thinking about it still hurt her. The knowledge that her friends were responsible for all this pain made it just so much more painful and brings on a new kind of pain.

Master seeing this understands. One of his children and his grandson were hurt very deeply and now they are trying to live with this pain. He can understand the wish for revenge but he knows that they will never truly hurt the ones that did this to them, especially Lucy, she is just to kind to really hurt someone else. So he is really happy that she found away to confront them, his childs always solve their problems with a fight to let out their anger. And that is fully okay for him, better let out this anger in a fight than hold onto this pain and try to hurt the ones the same way.

"It's okay Lucy, my child! I understand, they hurt you, they hurt you both. And I am very happy that you want to solve it like this and not with something else.", he smiles gently at her and pats her leg, "We better get going then before these brats are to drunk to listen to my announcement." And back was the old Master who always jokes around, effectively lifting the heavy mood.

Master takes down the barrier and they leave the room, Lucy goes straight to Juvia while Master goes to the Bar and jumps on top to get a bit higher before he speaks up.

"Listen up, brats! I have something to tell you! You all know that Wendy was attacked before the Games even started, now she can't enter the Games because her magic is still not fully recovered. And you all know that Lisanna was cheated from winning yesterday with the same attack, she too got her magic sucked out and can't continue in the Games. Today Elfman won for us but is badly hurt and can't fight again. Team A only has three members left, we know that a Team needs to have five members and a reserve. I have decided that Freed, Bixlow and Evergreen will be the new Team members. You three can decide on your own who will be the reserve. And now let's party!", and before any can ask a question Master sits down on the Bar and gulps down a beer.

Lucy sitting next to Juvia looks around the Guild, trying to catch Laxus eye.

Laxus does the same, he sits at a table in the corner and tries to find Lucy. He has a feeling that she is the one who is responsible for this.

Finally making eye contact all Lucy does is wink at him before turning back to Juvia. This one wink is enough prove for Laxus that she really is the one responsible, other than that, this wink made him somehow all flustered.

Laxus wants nothing more than to go up to her and hold her in his arms, but he knows that he still has to wait.

* * *

A few hours later Lucy leaves to get some sleep, who knows maybe she will participate in the Game tomorrow.

Shortly after Lucy leaves Laxus follows her unnoticed from the Guild. "Blondie!" "Oh hey Laxus!", Lucy smiles up at him, happy that she gets some alone time with him now after already having giving up on hoping to be alone with him today.

"It was you who convinced Gramps to let the Thunder God Tribe participate or not?", he looks curious down at her. "Yeah, I got this idea earlier this day. I thought this way we maybe get a chance to fight and then beat them. I thought it would be a pretty good revenge to beat them in the Games and then have them as our slaves for a whole day!", Lucy grins up at him but has this certain demonic glint in her eyes. "I really like the thought of that!"

Without really thinking about it he takes her hand in his and starts walking again. Lucy stands there shocked for a moment but his tugging on her hand brings her back and she follows him while gazing down at their linked hands.

She trails her gaze up to his face and detects a little blush on his cheeks. As soon as Laxus felt that she stood still and stopped him so, he noticed that he had grabbed her hand, not wanting to let go again he just tugged to make her follow him but he really couldn't stop the blush.

Laxus just looks stubbornly away from her, to flustered from his unconscious actions, to look at her.

Lucy can't help but giggle at his behavior but all she does is squeeze his hand shortly and then walk silent and content beside him under the starts.

Laxus of course hears this giggle but instead of getting angry at her for laughing at him he smiles softly, her giggle just to sweet to be angry because of it. So like her he walks silent and content beside her, glancing at her from time to time and marvels at her beauty under the stars.


	14. Pandemonium

Like the other mornings Lucy wakes up much earlier than the others. She puts on some clothes and leaves to get some breakfast for the others, so they can have a Team breakfast-meeting in their room.

Arriving at a cute little cafe she enters and overlooks that the new Team A is sitting at one table, having their own Team breakfast-meeting.

"Luce!" "Lucy!" "Lucy-san!"

Lucy was standing in the line when hearing this calls, she turns around and sees the other Team, motion to her to go to them.

Lucy sighs and inwardly curses for not paying more attention to her surroundings. More or less forced to, she puts on a bright smile and walks over, growling inwardly that Natsu and her Team can still smile at her like that, she can see that the Thunder God Tribe can't look at her and that they have a guiltily expression but her Team...

"Hey guys, didn't thought that I would meet you hear this early.", she looks curious down at them.

"Freed made us stand up this early so we could have a Team meeting!", Natsu whined to her.

"I thought that it would be a wise decision to have a Team meeting before we enter together as a new Team. It would be for the best to clear certain things before the Games start and not when we are already in the middle of it and it is to late. And what are you doing here this early, Lucy-san?", Freed defends himself.

"Ah yes, Natsu you should listen to him, it is in fact a good idea to have a Team meeting before the Games start later. And I am here for the same reason you could say. While training I always woke up early, so I'm always up before the rest of my Team wakes up and I'm here to buy us all some breakfast so we can have a Team meeting in out room.", she explains to them.

"Luce, come on sit down with us, lets talk a bit. Your Team doesn't need a Team meeting. And maybe we could talk about Laxus? You know we have to tell you something...", while speaking Natsu had pulled her down to sit next to him with his arm over her shoulders. Lucy let him pull her down just reluctantly, he wasn't allowed just now to know that she already knows almost everything, so she had to act like always.

In his arms Lucy tenses up as if just the mention of Laxus name was to much, in reality she was tense because he touched her so casually after all they did to her and Laxus.

She notices how everyone looks expectantly at her but she wasn't having it.

"Sorry but I don't want to speak about Laxus. I will leave now!", Lucy stands up and does just that, leaving the cafe without buying anything.

Both Teams are left behind, staring at her leaving form. Both Teams have this sad expression, but both for different, but somewhat the same, reason.

Team Natsu is sad because they noticed that Lucy is a bit distant with them and from Natsu's explanation they know that she is hurting. They know that this is hurting her and Laxus, they know that they are the reason for that, they know that maybe they should try harder to talk with her but right now the Games are in the foreground of their minds.

The Thunder God Tribe is sad because they know that they are the reason why Laxus is hurting right now, they know that they should try to talk with Lucy but all they can think about is Laxus. How they hurt Laxus and that maybe he will never trust them again, that maybe he won't work with them anymore. At some point they wanted to blame Lucy for the way Laxus is hurting now, but overall they know that they and Team Natsu are the real reason for his pain, so they stopped trying to blame her.

* * *

After leaving the cafe, Lucy searches for another to buy some breakfast for her Team.

Should she have listen to them? Should she have talked with them? No, now is not the time for that!

Arriving back at their room Lucy sees that the only one awake is Laxus, who still lays in his bed.

She sets the bags down on their table and walks up to him where she sits down beside him on his bed.

"Good morning, Blondie. What were you doing this early? And is that breakfast I smell in these bags?", he asks while propping himself up.

"Yeah, this is breakfast you can smell. And I thought it would be nice to have breakfast together so I went out to buy us all some since I was awake anyways. And no before you ask, you can not start eating while the others are still sleeping. We will wake them up and then eat together!", she looks sternly down at him, already knowing where his thoughts were wandering to.

Laxus who was still sleepy responds to that in a way Lucy never would have guessed, "Well if I can't have breakfast, I want something else!" Laxus somewhat pouts before falling back down on his bed and pulls Lucy down with him.

Before Lucy even realizes what is happening she is already pressed against his chest with his arms securely wrapped around her, holding her there, and his nose once again buried in her hair, taking in her intoxicating scent. And that is when he realizes that something is off about her smell, and he really doesn't likes it, not one bit. There is this smell like a campfire and ash on her that makes his nose twitch in irritation.

He leans back a little to look at her face while still holding her close to him.

"Why do you smell like campfire and ash?", Lucy wasn't to sure, but it sounded like there was some jealousy in his voice.

"Well in the first cafe it wanted to buy the breakfast I met the new Team A. They wanted to talk with me about you and Natsu pulled me down to sit beside him with his arm around my shoulder, I guess you are smelling him on me. You Slayers and your noses...", Lucy explains and shakes her head at him.

"I don't like it!", Laxus growls and pulls her even closer, once more burying his nose in her hair, wanting to replace the smell of Natsu and her with his own scent. He likes it so much more when she smell like him, it always fills him with satisfaction when he detects his own scent on her, it's like some kind of claim.

"You know Laxus... as much as I like it here in your arms... you know that the other Slayers will smell this too, but luckily for you I still have to take a shower.", Lucy looks up to him through her lashes. She was telling the truth, she really likes it here in is arms, more like loves it, but she starts to wiggle to get out anyways.

Laxus didn't even notice that she is trying to escape his arms, his thoughts stopped at her telling him that she likes it in his arms, he replays this over and over in his head, every replay brings his smile to brighten. And just when he finally breaks out of this circle to tell her that he likes her in his arms as well he finally notices that she isn't there in his arms anymore. But before he can panic he hears the shower in the bathroom and calms down again.

After Lucy is finished with her shower Laxus goes in next while Lucy starts to wake up the others.

* * *

Finished with their breakfast and the little Team meeting, more like just talking with each other to bond some more, they made their way to the Domus Flau.

After hearing the name of the Game they decide that Laxus will participate and he leaves to go down to the arena.

Like Laxus followed her to her battle, Lucy follows him to shortly speak with him, "Laxus! Wait a minute, I wanted to give you something!" He stops and turns around, looking at her.

"I don't know how often you have the chance to eat lightning to power yourself up but I thought I can help you out with that. During my training I got some new Keys, one of them can use Lightning-magic. And since this is Celestial-Lightning it probably will give you an extra boost. You don't have to of course but I wanted to at least offer it to you.", Lucy looks down, suddenly a little ashamed to ask him something like this. Everyone knows how strong he is, he doesn't need any boosts.

"I would be really happy to have some lightning. You are right, I don't get very often the chance to eat some lightning. Only Lightning-Lacrimas but they are not the same as fresh lightning.", he smiles down at her.

So Lucy call out Aquila to give Laxus some lightning. Aquila shoots his own Lightning at Laxus until Laxus can't take in anymore, what costs Lucy quite a bit of her own magic. But Lucy is really happy to be able to help him in someway and this magic loss in nothing compared to the magic she needed to release while fighting Jura. She knows it won't take to long for her to replenish her magic reserves.

"Thanks Blondie! This lightning was very delicious, in fact I don't know if I had ever lightning before that was this good! And wow! You were right, this is quite an impressive boost you gave me. I feel so good and powerful now! I think from now on I will come to you and your Spirit whenever I want some lightning.", Laxus grins down at her, he feels for the first time in a long while really satisfied. Normally he tries to eat lightning during thunderstorms but it has been a while since there was one and Lightning-Lacrimas always tastes so stale.

Laxus pulls her in a quick hug and then leaves for the arena, leaving a happy Lucy behind. Happy that she could help him.

Lucy arrives back in their booth to see the Castle appear before them and Erza declaring that she wants to fight all hundred monsters.

Lucy gaps and asks Juvia what has happened while she was away. Juvia quickly explains the Game and that Erza got number one and choose to fight all monsters at once.

Lucy looks down to Laxus who looks really annoyed, she knows he wanted to fight something too and now Erza takes this away from him. And Lucy knows that Erza is very much capable of taking down all these monsters, she really hopes that Laxus will have a chance to show his own power. She herself wanted to see how much of a power boost she gave him with the lightning from Aquila.

The crowd watches in awe as Erza takes down one monster after the other until she defeated the S-class monster last.

As much as Lucy is angry at her own Team, she can't help herself but stare down in awe at the power from Erza.

Everyone is left gaping at the power of Erza, Titania like some of them slowly remembers her.

After some contemplating it was decided to test the other with the MPF to decide the ranks.

They continue with the numbers they draw before.

Millianna is first and gets a score of 365.

Next is Nobarly with 124, then comes Hibiki who just gets 95 and Obra with just 4.

Hibiki's small score is reasonable for Lucy since she knows that his kind of magic is really not one for the physical power. But with Obra she has a feeling that something is up there but can't really determine what it is.

And then finally the really interesting people are next.

Everyone was curious what Orga from Sabertooth would score since Sabertooth is praised for their strong members. And he doesn't disappoint with his 3825.

Lucy waits just as eagerly for Jura than for Laxus. She wants to see what score the Wizard Saint she almost beat will get.

And everyone is even more shocked when he gets a score of 8544. And Lucy knows that the only way she was able to fight him was because of her smarts and because he underestimated her, there was just no way that she could have beat him otherwise when he has powers like that.

Finally it is Laxus turn and Lucy practically shakes in her seat from excitement, how will he score compared to Orga and Jura?

You can compare the power from a Lightning God Slayer directly with a Lightning Dragon Slayer, and everyone is impatiently waiting for Laxus to start his attack. Will he score about the same as Orga or maybe even as Jura? Everyone remembers that Laxus was once feared for his immense strength and now they finally can witness it, even if it just in this test.

"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Roaring Thunder of the Stars!" Laxus unleashes a roar at the MPF, a roar so big no one had ever seen before. From his mouth erupts an onslaught of golden lightning with, if you look close enough, little sparkling stars in it.

Upon impact the lightning flashes all over the MPF, at first it looks like nothing happened and then the globe suddenly explodes in many tiny pieces. All of these pieces still have lightning flashing around them, letting the small pieces exploding into even smaller pieces until there is nothing left to see. Lightning is still flashing all around the place so that the people were to blinded to notice the 9999 at the place where the MPF once stood.

As if the explosion wasn't enough to shock everyone, he really destroyed the thing until nothing was left, now everyone can see the 9999, which means he is stronger than Jura, a Wizard Saint.

The crowd is left gaping and Laxus got second place for his Team.

He looks up at Lucy and sees her completely amazed, this was possible because of her power up. And he will make sure that she understands that he was just so strong because of her.

He sees the proud and happy smile she sends him and just has to return the smile.

Laxus decides then and there that he will make sure to ask her for more of this lightning when ever possible, he had never felt this good before. And even now after this strong attack, he knows that he still has massive of his own magic left, since he mostly used the lightning from her Spirit. Maybe he should take her, from now on, on all of his mission...

Secretly this is just an excuse to spent more time with her. Yes, this is a great power up, but he doesn't want to use her for just that and this will give him a chance to spent much more time with her. Especially if he takes her with him on mission.


	15. Laxus vs Alexei

After the lunch break the battles of the day finally begin.

First it Millianna against Semmes and Millianna wins.

Next is Eve versus Rufus with Rufus winning.

And then finally it is Laxus time to battle. He is battling Alexei from Raven Tail and after these last days everyone from Fairy Tail is looking out for any tricks and cheats from them.

Lucy is excited waiting to see Laxus fight, she always heard of his strength but she never really got a chance to see him really fight. The rescue on Tenrou not really counting for her since she was to exhausted to really look how he fights.

Then the fight begins.

Instantly Lucy has a strange feeling, as if something is wrong.

Never could it be right that Laxus would let himself beat like this. And there is now way that this Alexei is so strong that Laxus can't fight back at all. There has to be something wrong!

Lucy steps back and concentrates on her magic, sending the magic out to feel for any disturbances, a technique she learn while training. When her magic reaches the arena she is able to detect a globe around the arena, connecting with this globe she feels that there is an illusion going on.

Immediately Lucy turns around and runs down to the entrance of the arena where she calls out Virgo.

"Can you dig a tunnel under the barrier? I want to be in the ground near Laxus and then pop out to help him if possible!", Lucy states with a determined expression.

Meanwhile Laxus is having a discussion with his opponent who he now knows is his own father, Ivan.

Neither of them noticed that Lucy has taken her position, and Ivan certainly doesn't know that Lucy is aware of the other members of his Guild inside the arena.

It's already to late for Laxus as he realizes that one member is behind him, sending his little demon to drain his magic. But Lucy is already there behind him, jumping up from a hole directly behind Laxus, and taking the hit for him.

Lucy falls to the ground, all her magic gone and for a moment everyone is staring at her in shock. Laxus very surprised that she just took a hit for him and Ivan shocked that someone found out about this and entered the barrier without him noticing.

Laxus is the first one to break out of this rigidity as he notices that Lucy moves on the ground.

His first move is to knock out Obra, who attack so many of his Guild mates already.

As he turns to fight Flare he sees that Lucy is standing up. "Hey Blondie! I know you want to fight but you have no magic left, let me beat them up!", he says to her with a worried tone in his voice. But all Lucy does is smirk at him before further standing up and saying, "Second Origin, release!"

Lucy turns away from him, they are now standing back to back.

"Don't worry Laxus, I still have this trick up my sleeve. And I want to beat Flare for what she did to Lisanna. Sadly you already beat up Obra, I would have love to kick his ass for attacking Wendy! And don't worry, I just want to take out my anger at them out on Flare, the rest you can beat up on your own. As soon as my fight is over I will go back in the earth and wait there in case you need some help, after that I will go back up to our booth so that now one will become suspicious."

"Alright, than let us light up some of these dark Ravens!", Laxus smirks, loving this feisty side of Lucy.

"Oh? Light them up? I like that thought!", Lucy smirks somewhat creepily at Flare.

"Open, Loke, Leon and Aquila!"

And with that call the Raven Tail members finally wake up from there own rigidity.

A whispered "Close your eyes! Loke now!" is all the warning Laxus gets before Loke casts Lion Brilliance.

The moment the Ravens let their guard down is the moment they attack.

Lucy goes, just as she promised, only after Flare. She has taken out her whip and had it already tightly wrapped around Flare when she was able to open her eyes again.

Laxus does the same, first he goes after Kurohebi, who is still shielding his eyes from the bright light, and sends him flying with a lightning torrent. Ivan attacks Laxus with his Shikigamis but Laxus blasts them away with his own lightning. Next Nullpudding tries to land a hit on Laxus, but he dodges all of his hits and before he really realizes what is happening he was knocked down with a lightning charged fist.

Lucy was still 'fighting' with Flare, taking her sweet time with her. Wanting her to feel some of the pain, Lisanna felt that day.  
She would hold her with her whip in the air and let Aquila shock her with lightning, rendering her motionless. In this state Lucy would send her to Leon who would hit her with his Dark Regulus, only to be blinded by Loke the second after.

Lucy knows that she is a little to cruel with Flare, but she hurt Lisanna so much...

Seeing the look in Flares eyes Lucy decides to end the fight there. She once again wraps her whip around her, letting Aquila shock her, so it would look like Laxus was the one who beat her, and then send her crashing to the ground where she along with Loke and Leon waits to deliver the final hit.  
Afterwards she sends her Spirits back and calls Virgo out again to dig her a hole so she can disappear from the arena and let Laxus finish the fight with his father.

Laxus in the meantime had declared that his father would pay for the wrongs he has done to his Guild and that he stands completely behind Fairy Tail. He declare that Fairy Tail is his family and stands above his own father, that he would crush anyone who goes against his family. With that declaration he attacks his own father who stands frightened before him, begging him to not attack him, and with that Laxus finally overcomes the fear that always laid hidden deep inside of him.

With that final blow the illusion barrier around them breaks apart.

Everyone looked shocked at the arena, there is Laxus standing over the beaten bodies of the whole Raven Tail Guild.

The first thing Laxus does is looking to his own booth, searching for Lucy who sends him a wink from her place. Laxus returns her wink with a small smile and then turns back around. He is glad that Lucy is alright after taking that hit for him, and he still is curious how she was able to notice that something was wrong. He needs to ask her that later though, now he is declared winner, Raven Tail is disqualified and there is still one more battle.

He really wishes that he will get a chance later today to speak with her, to thank her for her support and for believing in him that he would beat his own father. He knows that there is theoretically no way that he would have lost against his father, magically at least. But Lucy gave him the needed encouragement to really fight his own father, he didn't realize that he still feared him, but it seems that he never really had overcome these feeling like he prior thought. So Lucy showing up gave him everything he needed to finally cope with these feelings.

It seems that Lucy had seen the onslaught of feelings in his eyes, since she meets up with him before he arrives back at their booth and gives him a quick hug, further calming him down.

After the quick hug Lucy turns around and goes back to their booth, Laxus trailing not to far behind her.

"Next battle is Freed Justine from Fairy Tail A versus Lyon Vastia from Lamia Scale."


	16. Freed vs Lyon

Wow, I'm really sorry but somehow this fight was really hard to write. I thought it could be a really interesting fight and maybe it really is but I think I just hadn't good enough ideas how this fight could could work out. It seems that my own imagination has left me on this one, but maybe I'm just to focused on Lucy and Laxus to write something good about the other characters.

* * *

Lucy and Laxus both hear the announcement before they reenter their booth.

"Freed against Lyon, as mad as I am with them I can't wait to see how Freed fights! I have never seen him fight before...", Lucy says excitedly.

Laxus can't help but smile at her excitement, she just looks so cute and beautiful with this shine in her eyes and he loves the way her voice sounds when she is so excited.

Lucy speeds up to take her place in the booth to not miss something from the oncoming fight. Laxus, again, not far behind her and stays a little behind her in their booth to not raise any suspicions.

They watch as Freed and Lyon meet up in the middle of the arena and greet each other, Freed in his normal gentleman like manner.

"And start!"

"Ice-Make: Eagle!" Lyon sends several eagles at Freed, attacking him from all sides.

"Dark Écriture: Reflect!" Freed is able to reflect most of the eagles coming at him gut since this is a dynamic form of ice magic they turn around on their own to attack him again. With "Dark Écriture: Slay", Freed destroys the remaining eagles he couldn't send back and destroys the ones which are attacking him again. All around him falls tiny ice-crystals to the ground, shimmering beautifully in the sunlight.

But while Freed is busy slaying the eagles Lyon already creates his next creations to attack him. "Ice-Make Snow Dragon! Ice-Make: Snow Tiger!" On his right side appeared the Dragon and on his left the Tiger, both are getting ready to attack Freed.

Freed who sees these big Ice-monsters, casts "Dark Écriture: Wings" to avoid them by flying up. With his increased speed he seemingly just appears behind Lyon where he casts "Dark Écriture: Pain" and is in the next second already back at his previous place where he destroys both ice creations with "Dark Écriture: Destruction".

While Lyon is still occupied with dealing with the pain, Freed flies all over the arena to set up some rune barriers with Jutsu Shiki.

During his training Freed, trained to be able to cast these barriers faster and made up some standard barriers he can cast pretty fast but are therefore easily undone if his opponent has some knowledge of runes.

Finally the pain-runes wear off and Lyon is able to think again. "Ice-Make: Dragonfly!"

As they fly towards Freed to attack him some of his barriers come into effect, dispelling any magic as soon as it hits the barrier. Sadly these barriers are just one-time usable and dissolve afterwards, but still, they destroyed quite a few of these Dragonflys attacking Freed.

Lyon seeing this makes up a plan to dispel all of these barriers with one attack, because with them up he doesn't know if his attacks will even reach his opponent.

"Blizzard!" At several places all around the arena the Blizzard dispels when it reaches one of Freed's barriers. But soon all around the arena a raging Blizzard is going on, freezing Freed in the process.

Lyon uses this distraction from Freed and made several Ice-Make: Clones of himself to further confuse Freed. And then he creates a sword to try and fight Freed in swordsmanship.

Freed now with the disadvantage of freezing, which slows down his movements greatly, has some problems to keep up with the speed from Lyon.

They fight for a few minutes, battle time slowly nearing the thirty minutes limit, with Freed having some difficulties to think properly while freezing this much.

But finally he has a idea and casts "Dark Écriture: Fear!", hoping that Lyon will lose enough of his courage to bring some distance between them and give him some room to think. And like he hoped, Lyon jumps back and begins to shake in fear.

Freed now has the chance to think about a solution and begins to write a barrier around him to heat up the air, the rule of this barrier being that nothing colder than a set temperature can enter.

This barrier sadly costs him to much time because as soon as he was no longer freezing and wanted to send "Dark Écriture: Pain!" in rapid succession to knock him out, the time was up and the battle ended in a draw.

They bow to one another and leave the arena to go back to their own Teams.

Fairy Tail Team A celebrating the points he got them.

Lucy in her own booth is still amazed from this fight and Freed's use of runes. She always wanted to see him in a fight and now she finally got the chance to do so. She comes back to reality when Juvia nudges her and tells her that they are going once again to the Bar Sun. Lucy just nods and follows her, thoughts going back to the prior fight.

She really wished that she could have talked with Freed about the runes he used, she always wanted to learn something about them but now after what they did, she probably won't do so. Maybe sometime in the future when all this is forgotten or so...

Laxus trails behind her, looking out for any obstacle Lucy may not have seen, so he can help if necessary. Luckily Juvia had noticed that Lucy is somewhere else with her mind and not paying attention to where she goes, so she took her arm and is now guiding her to the Bar.

* * *

Like the other days Lucy is leaving earlier to go to sleep.

Calling out Aquila to give Laxus lightning took quite some magic and than later calling out all these other Spirits to help Laxus exhausted her and now she really wants to sleep. Of course she has still magic left, after all she didn't use up as much as against Jura but alone the meeting in the morning took some of her energy away. And Fairy Tail party are always so exhausting, especially when you are trying to avoid so much people without them really noticing that you are avoiding them

And like the other days Laxus follows Lucy out of the Bar, thinking that this is his chance to speak with her and he too is exhausted and wants to rest.  
But seeing her expression he decides against it, not really thinking that Lucy is up for some serious talking right now, and he firmly believes that his 'thanks' will turn into a serious conversation, because that is just the way Lucy is.

So all he does is speeding up to go besides her. Lucy notices him approaching and turns her head to smile up at him, one of the smiles he loves so much. A smile that always makes his heart flutter.

And in that moment, Lucy smiling up at him like this and with the feeling it triggers, he once again can't stop his own hand from reaching out to grab hers.

Laxus fears that Lucy will withdraw her hand but all she does is to smile up at him a bit brighter and squeeze his hand gently, before turning her head back. At her reaction warms spreads through his chest and Laxus himself smiles brightly, feeling completely happy and content in the moment.

Walking besides her, holding her hand and being able to just enjoy the silence without it being awkward, things he wants to do for the rest of his life.


	17. Naval Battle

While standing in their booth Lucy looks to the Sabertooth booth and remembers what happened when she and Laxus reached their hotel. There stood Yukino, waiting for her. They asked her to come in with them and there she offered Lucy her Keys and told them that she is no longer a Mage of Sabertooth. Lucy of course declined the Keys and offered for her to stay with Fairy Tail but Yukino didn't want to. And after some more talking she left to think about on her own what she wanted to do next.

But what Lucy doesn't know is that Yukino met Natsu and spoke with him, telling him more in detail what happened in her former Guild. So of course Lucy doesn't know what Natsu did afterwards and that Sabertooth now has Fairy Tail as their target, wanting to pay them back for what he did.

* * *

"The name of our Game this morning is Naval Battle, please send out contestant who will fight in this competition."

Lucy decides to go for her Team and she sees that Team A sends Evergreen. She leaves their booth and goes down to the arena like the other contestants. Before entering, someone stops her and tells her to change into swimwear.

She turns around and asks Virgo for a bikini telepathically. Virgo appears with a black bikini with golden stars and a black belt for her Keys and whip in her hands and Lucy changes, giving her other clothes to Virgo. Her requip-bracelet she of course keeps on.

Entering the arena she waits for the remaining contestants for a few minutes before the Game can begin.

The rules are explained and above them a sphere of water appeared, one by one the contestants enter the sphere.

As soon as the Game starts Lucy requips her sunglasses since she knows of Evergreen's Stone Eyes and after that she summons Aquarius to help her, really happy that they were able to build up a stronger bond during her training.

Aquarius attacks with her Water Torrent and pushes everyone nearer to the edge. Sherria tries to cancel out the attack with her Sky God's Bellow and somewhat succeeds, being able to slow down the Torrent.

Meanwhile Jenny uses this distraction to kick out Rocker. Evergreen uses her Stone Eyes on an unsuspecting Risley, turned to stone she is to heave and drops out of the water sphere. As soon as she left the water Evergreen turned her back, so she is able to land properly.

Now the only ones left are Lucy with Aquarius still fighting Sherria, Minerva who watched from the sidelines and Evergreen who just engaged Jenny in a fight.

Evergreen attacks Jenny with her Fairy Bomb: Gremlin which is sadly not as strong under water than normally. But the attack hit Jenny anyways, pushing her nearer to the edge. Before Jenny realizes what is happening next, Evergreen uses Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun and while Jenny tries to avoid the torrent of needles, she doesn't notice that she has reached the edge and is now falling out.

At the same time Lucy was able to overpower Sherria, while she was distracted with going against Aquarius Lucy used her speed to swim to her side and kicks her out of the sphere. Seeing that her opponent is beat, Aquarius vanishes back to the Spirit World.

Minerva was still just observing everything and decides that she will let the Fairies battle it out and then fight the winner, this way it will be much more fun for her.

"Oh look, two Fairies and a Tiger. Who will win? I think I want to fight the better Fairy, so I will let you two fight and then beat up the winner!", she smirks cruelly at them.

Neither Lucy nor Evergreen likes the way Minerva is speaking but both have a feeling that Minerva won't change her decision and that they have no other choice. On the positive side, Lucy has a chance to fight Evergreen and let out some frustration on her for what they did.

They turn away from Minerva to face one another, waiting to see what the other one does.

As soon as Lucy notices the movement from Evergreen, recognizing this move for her Leprechaun attack, Lucy summons Aries. Evergreen launches her attack and Aries immediately sets up a Wool Wall, stopping all of the tiny needles.

For the moment not being able to see what happens, Lucy and Aries doesn't notice that Evergreen had directly launched Fairy Bomb: Gremlin after ending her prior attack. And some of explosions hits both Lucy and Aries, luckily not enough to send Aries back but enough to hurt them. Lucy requips her gloves and asks Aries cage Evergreen in her Wool so that she isn't able to see where Lucy is.

With the Wool all around her, Evergreen isn't able to see where Lucy is, she doesn't even know where the edge to the sphere is.

The crowd is waiting full of anticipation, nobody can see what is happening since Aries practically filled the whole sphere with her Wool and the only who is aware of what is happening is Lucy. Since this is Aries magic and she has such a strong bond with her Spirits she can feel what is happening inside of the Wool, so she knew that Minerva was still at the same place, not having moved at all. And that Evergreen is carefully swimming through the Wool, apparently trying to find a way out while simultaneously the Wool is sending her and Minerva too a bit into a relaxed state. Which are both of course trying to fight with Minerva having more luck in doing so.

When Lucy feels that Evergreen is nearing the edge she swims directly behind her and then asks Aries to dissolve the Wool. Before Evergreen realizes that she is able to see again Lucy had already landed her first Regulus infused hit, taking her breath away for a moment. This of course gives Lucy the time to land another hit and a powerful kick, sending her nearly out of the Sphere.

Evergreen can stop herself before falling out and once again sends Leprechaun at Lucy. But with Aries still there, she just erects another barrier before the needles can hit Lucy. With Evergreen again not being able to see Lucy she wasn't prepared for the fast approaching Lucy who delivers her Lucy-Kick to Evergreen's head, sending her out of the Sphere and gaining third or maybe even second place for Team A, depending on the length of the ongoing fight.

Lucy is still turned away from Minerva who sees this as her perfect opportunity to land her first hit and with that open the fight between them. Minerva creates an explosion in front of Lucy to send her in her own direction and then kicks her in the back. Lucy is send back to the edge of the sphere where luckily Aries erect another barrier, stopping her from falling out.

She feels that something is changing in the water besides her and uses her speed to get away, barley avoiding another explosion but sadly Minerva had already sent another one which Lucy wasn't able to avoid.

Aries didn't know if this will help Lucy but she surrounds Lucy and herself with Wool, hoping that the Wool will somehow soften Minerva's attacks. And Aries couldn't have done a better thing, since Minerva can only control the space in her side and now she isn't able to see Lucy. But Minerva set up explosions all around the Wool anyways, hoping that she can destroy all of this ridiculous Wool and then hit Lucy again.

Lucy hears the explosion going off all around her and knows that she needs to think of a plan, this Minerva is really strong from what she can feel. Aries in the meantime is constantly adding more Wool to replace the destroyed Wool.

Having enough of this and getting really angry now, Minerva set up a huge explosion and destroys all of the Wool with this one hit. Seeing that Lucy wants to grab her Keys she tries to steal them with her magic but nothing happens. All she can do for a moment is stare at her empty hand where the Keys should have appeared.

Lucy seeing the shocked expression and having felt the magic of her Key ring activate just smirks at Minerva, really happy that she bought this Key ring.

In her anger Minerva sets multiple explosion off all around Lucy and Aries, but to her shock Aries was fast enough to send out her Wool once again and saving them from most of the explosions.

Back in safety where Minervas explosions can't reach them immediately Lucy can call out the Spirit she wanted to call before.

Minerva now in a full on rage, sends explosion after explosion, but with not being able to see she can only try to destroy the Wool again and again.

So with not seeing anything she of course doesn't notice that Lucy has called out another Spirit and neither of them has noticed that the five minute limit is already over.

Lucy in the safety of the Wool tells her other Spirit to attack. The other Spirit being Aquila, who appeared outside of the Water Sphere, and is now sending his lightning at the Sphere, electrocuting Minerva. And immediately when the lightning stops Lucy calls out Aquarius again, who sends a huge wave at, a still dazed from the lightning, Minerva. Thus catapulting her out of the Sphere, making Lucy the winner of this Game.

Aries dissolves the remaining Wool and Lucy being able to see her other Spirit smiles brightly at them and thanks them for their help before sending them back.

Lucy jumps out of the Water Sphere to go back to her Team but Minerva wasn't having it. She was fuming, she lost against a Fairy, a Fairy who disgraced her in front of everyone. A Fairy who should know her place to never go against a Tiger.

So in her fury she sends out a huge explosion to Lucy who was still in the air with no way to avoid the explosion, thus getting hit and went flying through the air.

Everyone stares at this scene, not able fully able to comprehend what just happened, so nobody steps in to help Lucy who was still falling to the ground with great speed.

Laxus was the first one to come out of his shock and immediately changes into lightning and catches Lucy just before she hits the ground.

He lands with her safely in his arms on the ground, looking her over for any heavy injuries but luckily finds none. Looking into her face he sees that she is awake and looks up at him. Very relieved that she is alright he presses her closer to himself, needing the reassurance that she is alright and at his side more than anything else at the moment. To further reassure himself, he gently nuzzles his nose into her neck and just breathes in her heavenly scent.

Lucy tenses up in his arms, not knowing what to think of his behavior right now. Yes she is very happy that he was able to catch her before she would have crashed to the ground. And yes she loves the feeling of his arms around her, she feels so safe in his arms. But the way he nuzzled her neck, and hold her even closer to himself let her feel slightly uncomfortable, after all she was just wearing a bikini and everyone was watching them.

Feeling all the eyes stare at them only make her more uncomfortable and so she starts to wriggle in his arms to get out.

Laxus feeling this just wanted to let her down, he himself just realized that he was holding her while all she was wearing a bikini and that everyone was staring at them, when he hears and smells someone approaching.

He looks up and sees Minerva walking in their direction, he immediately pulls Lucy closer against his chest again and begins to growl in warning at Minerva.

Hearing this bestial growling Minerva stops and even steps back as she sees the feral glint in his eyes which for a short moment turned to slits.

Seeing that Minerva steps back, Laxus growls one last time in warning before turning into lightning and zapping away with Lucy still in his arms. He reappeared in their booth where he gently sets her down, watching out for any indications that she is too hurt to stand on her own.

But it looks that she is fine and he heaves a relieved breath.

Lucy disappears to change back to her normal clothes, ignoring what the announcers are saying.

While she is away they declare that Minerva just to caught up in the fight and this was the reason for her attacking Lucy so they let her continue as if nothing had happened.

The moment Laxus wan't able to see Lucy any more he tensed up again, fighting his urge to follow her. But he knows he would probably get a Lucy-Kick if he would run in on her changing, so all a does is impatiently wait for her to come back.

A few minutes later Lucy comes back and he is able to relax again, focusing all of his senses on her to be able to instantly notice if something is wrong with her. He has this strong urge to be near her so he stops her before she walks to the front of the booth. Now he stands besides her but this is still not close enough so he carefully wraps his arm around her and pulls her close to him, once again breathing in her scent, and now finally able to completely calm down.

What makes this even better is that Lucy makes no move to move away from him, in the contrary, she relaxes against him and Laxus can't stop the happy smile.

"Before all of you go to your lunch break we have one more announcement. We just realized that with the disqualification of Raven Tail we have an odd number off Teams. And after some discussion we came to the conclusion that only one Fairy Tail Team can continue. And since this is a contest both Teams will fight each other after the break to decide which Team will continue in the Games. This will be a six against six, the reserves have to fight too, fight and the winner will be the Team which defeats all the other members. It doesn't matter how many Team members are still standing at the end of the fight as long as everyone from the other Team is defeated. Ohh I can't wait to see that fight!", Chapati announces exited.

Lucy and Laxus turn their heads and smirk, both having the same thought, this is the perfect opportunity for them to beat up their Teams!


	18. A vs B

I am very sorry to say this but from now on it will probably take longer to update for me.

Sadly I really should/need to start learning for my upcoming exams. Even though all I want to do is write, since this is so much more fun than learning...

* * *

The lunch break was longer than normally, because they wanted to give Lucy and Evergreen some time to recover after fighting in the Game this morning. And of course they wanted to give the Teams some time to think of a strategy to fight their opponents, everything just to make this more fun and exciting for the watching crowd.

The spectators couldn't wait to see this battle, all nearly exploding with excitement. They were curious how Teams from the same Guild would fight one another. Could they even really fight against each other? They all heard Natsu's speech about family and friend. So was this Guild, who gave their everything for the family, really capable of fighting against each other?

What they of course didn't took into consideration was that Fairy Tail members always fought with one another, there was never a day at the Guild without a brawl in the middle of the Guild hall. But how could they know about this when the core members where gone for so long?

So, yeah, of course they were capable, very much so to speak, of fighting against each other. But none from them, not even most of the Fairy Tail members, knew how much some of these contestants were itching to fight the other Team, to beat the other Team.

And now after a long break, of three hours, the fight could finally begin.

* * *

Neither Team A nor the remaining members from Team B knew that Lucy and Laxus are talking again, so certainly not that they are working together. Working together to beat the other Team up and win this.

During the break the Teams of course separated so the other couldn't hear their strategy. And nobody noticed that both, Lucy and Laxus, disappeared for some time to made their own strategy and think about ways how they could fight together to the best of their abilities and shock everybody.

Both Teams stand on opposite sides in the arena, just waiting for the signal to start the fight, atmosphere completely tense.

"Let's see which Team comes out of this victorious. And let's see what these Fairy Tail members are really capable of. Let begin the fight!", Mato yells before running out of the arena to get out of the way from the fighting Mages.

As someone could have guesses Natsu rushed immediately at Gajeel, Gray hot at his heels.

So the only ones left were the Thunder God Tribe, they of course doesn't want to fight Laxus or Lucy, like the rest of Team A. But before they really had to decide Juvia and Cana already attacked all three of them.

So what was the strategy from each Team?

Team A had a hard decision to make, they wanted to win. Oh how much they wanted to win especially after hearing from Master that the winner Team would have the other Team as their slaves for a whole day. But their problem was that the Thunder God Tribe didn't want to fight Laxus and Team Natsu of course didn't want to fight Lucy. And after hearing from Natsu that Laxus is probably really protective of her after that situation with Minerva earlier they all slightly fight to hurt Lucy. So the Thunder God Tribe was reluctant to fight Lucy too.  
The decision, try to take out all the other Mages and then fight Lucy and Laxus at the same time if possible. They thought the fact that Lucy was still avoiding Laxus, they saw her sitting as far away from him as possible during the break, would help them win against both. There was just no way that Lucy and Laxus could beat them when they were the only ones left and they weren't talking, meaning no Teamwork.

Team B had other thoughts about this. They of course wanted to win this battle, too. And they didn't have any restrictions who to fight. So they thought of who has the best chance against who from the other Team.

Mira would fight Erza, everything went accordingly after plan.

Gajeel would fight Gray, not Natsu too. Laxus was supposed to fight him.

Juvia was to fight Evergreen on her own, being a good match since she was able to turn her body to water and avoid her Leprechaun attack like this.

Lucy and Cana wanted to fight Freed and Bickslow, having a feeling that they lost on purpose during the S-class exams and now wanted a rematch for that.

Lucy of course could have followed her Team mates in this battle and she did, but all the Thunder God Tribe was doing was avoiding her and focusing on the other two girls. And Lucy wanted a real match, not to beat them because they ignored her, so she did the only thing possible, stepping back and waiting for someone to attack her while observing the other fights.

Laxus was doing the same, he tried to take over Natsu from Gajeel, but Natsu was always going back to Gajeel. And like Lucy, he doesn't want to beat Natsu because he was paying more attention to Gajeel instead of him. So like Lucy he was standing at the side, observing the other fights and waiting for an opportunity.

* * *

The spectator were roaring in amazement. They really haven't thought that the Fairy Tail Mages would fight against each other so fiercely.

And what an intense fight this his. If these Mages fight against each other like this, how would a fight against real enemies look like? Would it be the same or much more vigorous, it probably would be a fearsome sight to behold.

Seeing the fights down there in the arena some of the other Guilds who had never seen the Fairy fight before in a real fight, asked themselves how this could be the Guild that lost every other Game until now.

And the Guild who already fought alongside them had this knowing smirk. They of course knew of the terrifying strength the Fairy Tail Mages possessed, and they all are happy that they are back.

But what all of these Mages were thinking was that after this Fairy Tail would be their number one opponent, the new Goal, beat Fairy Tail. Even Sabertooth recognize their strength, thinking that maybe Fairy Tail is really able to beat them and take the title of the strongest Guild.  
From now on they all had to fight even harder.

* * *

Natsu and Gray were attacking Gajeel at the same time, taking him by surprise. Where was Laxus, he should fight Natsu. He should just beat up Gray.

That's when he notices that Laxus is trying to take over the fight with Natsu but Natsu is always coming back to him. Landing a hit on him when he thought that he can lay is sole concentration on Gray.

What was with this guy? He always wants to fight Laxus and now he is avoiding to fight him? Something is not right here.

But Gajeel has no time to think any further about this, his two opponents needing all his attention.

In the times when Laxus tried to lure Natsu away from Gajeel he was able to gain the upper hand against Gray and land a few hits. But as soon as Natsu would enter their fight again, the two of them would turn the fight around.

He heard from Lucy before that the two are always fighting on missions against each other, even during battles with their real enemies they would occasionally start a fight. So how comes that they are fighting this good together right now?

Gajeel was trying his best to fight the two at the same time, but he knows that he has no real chance to win against both of them when they are truly teaming up.

It was hard to keep up with all the attacks they were throwing simultaneously at him. So it came as no surprise to everyone that at some point he made a mistake.

* * *

Erza and Mira were battling it out like the old times. Finally having the chance to end the ongoing rivalry between them and see who is the strongest female in Fairy Tail.

They were fighting fiercely in the sky. Mira in her Satan Soul and Erza in her Black Wing Armor. While in the air, they moved to fast for anyone to really see what was happening but with her Armor Erza needed to land from time to time.

And these moments Mira used to attack her, hitting her every time, even if not greatly a hit is still a hit.

Erza is feeling these hits and she still wasn't able to hit Mira a single time. Next Erza requips her Flight armor, hoping that with the enhanced speed she would be able to match Mira's speed, but to no avail.

With another crash Erza lands on the ground and Mira is preparing her final attack.

* * *

Juvia was fighting Evergreen and had little to no problem fighting the self proclaimed Fairy, but the rest of the Thunder God Tribe was always saving her in the last moment. And in this moment simultaneously hitting Juvia while the other would distract Cana.

The girls decides to fight together. Both having noticed that their opponents wouldn't fight Lucy and because of this Lucy had stepped back.

Juvia and Cana knew that they needed to defeat them fast since they couldn't hold their own against three strong opponents at the same time. Luckily they had a secret attack; Juvia was slowly making the ground wet so that Cana could use her "Summoned Lightning" on the wet ground and shock all of the Thunder God Tribe like that at the same time.

The problem was, the three could fly. And just before Cana cast her Card on the ground they flew up, avoiding being shocked.

After that Bickslow was taking on Cana and Evergreen Juvia to give Freed some time to write rune traps.

The girls of course had no chance to watch out for these traps, focused on their own fights. And just like that they stepped onto one of these traps when Freed entered the fight again, it took him some time but he was able to set up the perfect trap for them.

* * *

One moment Gajeel was running at Gray to knock him out and then solely fight Natsu. But he noticed to late that Gray turned to ground to ice, resulting in Gajeel slipping and giving Natsu the perfect opening to defeat him just like during Phantom Lord with his Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist.

Erza didn't have enough time to protect herself against Mira's attack but Gray whose fight was over saved her with his Ice-Shield. For a moment Mira thought that her attack hit Erza and she won, so her guard lessened just a little bit. But this was enough for Erza to jump out of the smoke in her Clear Heart Clothing and attacking Mira who wasn't prepared.  
The moment Erza was falling back to the ground together with Mira, who still wasn't completely defeated, Natsu's Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade hit her and she crashed to the ground, defeated like Gajeel.

Cana and Juvia realized to late that they stepped into one of Freed's rune traps.

They looked up and there stood the rules, "As long as your intention is to win either this fight or the whole battle you can't use magic inside of this trap or leave it until a winner is declared." The girls looked completely shocked, how was he able to write such a trap in only minutes? They try to think about something but they know that there is no way out of this trap, so they reluctantly settle down on the grown to watch the rest of the battle, luckily this trap is somewhere at the edge of the arena.

* * *

"Oh look at this Laxus, we get to fight the traitors all by ourselves!", Lucy smirks at she slowly wanders in Laxus direction, both having stood opposite from each other before.

"It seems you are right Lucy! Time to teach them a lesson!", he smirks back.

Arriving together in the middle of the arena they turn to Team A, evil smirk on their lips and a wicked glint in their eyes, especially Lucy had this very scary aura around her that every Fairy Tail member learned to fear.

"Oh shit!"

"Scary Lucy! Run for your lives!", the shout goes through the whole arena from a terrified Happy from somewhere up in the Fairy Tail booth.


	19. Lucy&Laxus vs Team A

So I finally had some time to write again, and I really hope that you all like this Chapter/fight! I must say that I had some serious trouble writing this because somehow I had problems with describing the fight. I knew how I wanted the fight to end but I didn't know how to get to that point. So I hope that this is at least a little good and is worth waiting this long.

* * *

After Happy's scream it's silent in the arena, everybody is waiting with baited breath for what will happen next.

"Have the two mages from Team B have a chance against the whole Team A? Or will Team A beat them? Lucy and Laxus didn't fight at all in this battle until now, so they are at full strength contrary to Team A. But still, it's two against six. But then again, Lucy almost beat Jura a Wizard Saint and Laxus broke the MPF, so they could have a real chance against them.", came the excited voice from Chapati, somewhat taking away the tension in the arena.

Lucy and Laxus were still just smirking at the other Team, not moving an inch, waiting for them to make the first move.

Team A observes how close Lucy and Laxus stand and realize that something between them changed. Now that they think about it, Lucy called them traitors, that means she at least knows something. Maybe...

But before they could think further about this Natsu made his first move, going straight for Laxus with his fists lit in fire. Aiming for his face, but even before he can reach him he flies in another direction, crashing to the ground.

While Natsu run at them, Lucy had requiped her gifts from her Spirits and then wrapped her whip around him, before he was able to land his hit. All this she did without moving from her place, the only thing she moved was her arm. Laxus, too, hadn't moved.

They both know that Freed had set up several rune traps, so it would be best to move as little as possible.

The rest of Team A hesitates to attack them, the guilt still on the forefront of their minds. But soon Gray shakes these feeling away, the will to win at the moment much stronger.

He sends several Lances at them but Laxus just strikes them with his Lightning, and none of them were able to reach them.

Lucy seeing the twitch in Ever's hands calls Aries to set up a wool wall around them. Now Evergreens attacks are useless against them, like in the Naval Battle. Freed too, has now no chance to attack them since he needs to see his target to be able to write his runes.

Using the chance that Lucy and Laxus aren't able to see them, Bickslow positions his babies in a circle around the wool wall along with the many swords Erza summoned. Natsu gets ready to use his roar, in hopes that the fore will burn away the wool, Gray to cast Crescent Blades.

With a silent signal they all attack at the same time.

Erza's blades cutting through the wool without a problem along with the attack from Bickslow's babies and Gray's ice blades.

Just like he hoped Natsu's fire us burning away the wool, making a path for Ever to attack with Leprechaun and Freed readies his rapier to write his runes as soon as he is able to see them.

Little did they know that Lucy summoned Virgo and let her dig a hole under them just before the attack were able to reach them. Another Spirit she summoned was Sculptor and let him make clones from them.

And these clones were the ones that took all the attacks at the same time, even Freed used his Dark Écriture: Fear on these clones.

While still being underground Lucy summons Loke and his little brother, wanting to see how they fight together.

Everyone was so focused on the spot were Lucy and Laxus once stood that no one payed attention to Loke and Leon who goes straight to Gray and attack him.

Hearing Gray's shout of surprise and pain as he is hit with Loke's Regulus and Leon's Dark Regulus at the same time the others look in his direction, seeing as he is sent flying through the air and crashed down at the spot were Lucy and Laxus once stood.

And that his when the dust finally clears and everyone is able to see that they disappeared and it seem that their attacks didn't hit.

The Thunder God Tribes first reactions is to look in the sky, thinking that their Leader used his Lightning Body to escape the incoming attacks.

Team Natsu's first reaction is to look all around the ground, knowing that Virgo often digs holes to save Lucy from incoming attacks. Well Natsu and Erza are looking because Gray is still under attack from both Spirits.

There is a fierceness in the way they attack him. Gray had never seen before such a look in Loke's eyes, especially directed at him. The anger he can detect makes it clears that they know of the things they did, even though he isn't sure if they knew all or just some parts. He comes to the conclusion that, that doesn't matters at the moment right now, he can think about it later. Right now he should give all he has to help his Team win, but why is he the only one fighting?

Right before Leon can land a kick at Gray's stomach he along with Loke disappears back to the Spirit world.

"What just happened?", a very dumbfounded and confused Gray murmurs mid punch. Looking around he spots Lucy and Laxus in one of Freed's rune traps. It seems like they stepped into it as soon as they were back overground again, the annoyed look in Lucy's eyes proves his thoughts.

"Whoohoooo! We won! Take that Team B!", Natsu already screams in excitement while jumping around in joy.

"Well... it seems the fight is over already... Then Team A is...", Chapati begins as he comes out of his confusion but is interrupted by Lucy, "Stop! Do you really think we will give up this fast?!" She sends an angry glare up to the announcers.

"And what do you think you can do now that you are trapped in one of Freed's runes? You should know that you can't break them.", Ever haughtily asks. "That I too would like to know Miss Lucy, there is no way to break my runes."

"I can break them with defeating you, can't I?" "Well yes, but how do you plan on defeating me when you can't use your own magic?"

"Well that is exactly the error in your runes, Freed. And there is another think that would make it possible for us to continue to fight. Let's see which possibility will arrive first.", Lucy answers him, making him even more confused.

An error in his own runes? Two ways for her to let them continue their fight?

And just then Loke appears directly before him, hitting him with Regulus Impact directly in the face and sends him flying.

Only seconds later the others watches as Lucy and Laxus disappears in a hole only to appear directly outside of the rune barrier again, Virgo at Lucy's left side.

"I was slower then big brother, do I deserve punishment now, Princess?", Virgo asks, her face like usual stoic. "No Virgo, no punishment. But thanks for digging us out!", she smiles brightly at her Spirit.

"Yeah thanks, Virgo!", Laxus says just before she goes back to the Spirit World. To hear that from him makes Lucy so happy. There are very few people who would thank her Spirits, most thinking that there is no need to do so since they are her Spirits and most still see them as tools.

Lucy turns and smiles brightly up at Laxus, happiness radiating off of her. Making Laxus smile in return at her, even though he as no idea what he did to make her this happy. But he doesn't really care with this smile directed at him.

Captivated in their little moment they didn't notice the fire and ice flying in their direction from opposite directions. The only indication Lucy had that something was happening, was the widening from Laxus' eyes as he sees the fire heading for Lucy. And in the next moment she lays on the ground with Laxus on top of her, protecting her from both incoming attacks.

She feels as he winces a little when the attacks hit him but otherwise they seem to doesn't really effect him.

Bickslow uses this moment to help Freed, who is still under attack from Loke.

A little message to Lucy later, Leon appears back at Loke's side to help him in the fight.

They fight in complete synchronicity. As soon as Loke lands a hit, Leon follows with he kick or the other way around. They seem to know exactly what the is doing in each moment and complete each other perfectly.

Seeing as Lucy and her Spirits did most of the fighting until now, Laxus decides to step in. He turns into his Lightning Body and heads in Erza's direction, wanting to take her out first since he sees her as the hardest opponent.

Lucy is still laying on the ground, slightly dazed from her previous position with Laxus on top of her. It's not so much the way he was on top of her. More the thought behind it, he took both attack just to protect her. Normally she would have been mad that he thinks that he needs to protect her but she was able to see in his eyes that he just didn't want her to get hurt. And somehow this is different for her. There was nothing in the way he looked at her that let her think, that he is thinking she can't fight in her own. No, there was just this will to not let her get hurt.

Hearing the boom of his thunder brings her out of her daze, she quickly stands up. Right on time to see the incoming attack from Ever. Using her speed she avoids most of the needles. At the same time she uses her speed to run behind Natsu and kicks him with her increased strength, sending him crashing into Gray.

She summons Taurus to help her against Gray and then starts fighting Natsu to the best of her abilities. Thank to her increased speed and strength she is able to doge most of his flaming fist and is able to land some of her own Regulus increased fists. Every time Lucy jumps back from Natsu to gain some ground and breath, Ever sends her own attack, making it hard for Lucy.

Not to far from them Laxus is fighting against Erza, who requiped her Lightning Empress Armor. The problem with this armor, Laxus own attacks hurt her very little but he on the other hand can just eat her attacks, which would make him stronger, so no option for her.

Laxus of course knows this and waits for her next move, knowing she always has some sort of plan. And he was right. Erza requips several swords around her and one in each and, sending the swords at him in a random pattern and attacks herself in between. The only chance Laxus has is to use is Lightning to either block the swords or destroy them with his stronger attacks.

Every once in a while he glances back at Lucy. He knows that he needs to finish his own fight fast. You could say that Lucy is fighting five opponents at the same time. And with three Spirits out and then using her gifts she is using quite some magic. And all this after just having a rather tough battle in the mornings, so she had no time to refill her magic containers. He knows that she has her second origin, she could always use if her first is empty, but he too knows that she isn't able to fight like this for too long.

So he gathers more magic than usual in his right fist to attack Erza with his Breakdown Fist, hoping that after all the other lightning attacks her armor wouldn't stand this strong attack.

Not waiting to see the outcome he flashes at Lucy's side, sending lightning at both Ever and Natsu, then her takes her into his arms and flashes to the other side of the arena.

"You know Laxus, how about we end this fight with one big attack?" "I like the sound of that, what do you have in mind Blondie?", Laxus glances down at her while still observing the others and watching out for any attacks.

"Unison Raid.", is all she answers him.

"You think we can pull of an Unison Raid?", he asks skeptically, he knows how hard they are to do.

"Yes I do. I could do one with Juvia just after we met, so doing one with you should be ease. Besides I trust you and think that our bond is strong enough!", she grins up at him.

Hearing that from her makes him so happy. She trusts him! And she thinks they have a strong bond! Hopefully he can make their bond even stronger when he asks her for a Date, but he shouldn't think about this right now.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, "I trust you too, so tell me what you want me to do!"

"Perfect! I just need to summon two other Spirits to make the Unison Raid possible I have in mind. I will call Aquila and Aquarius, with her water nobody will be able to avoid your lightning. And Aquila can give you an extra boost and mix his lightning in our attack."

Laxus thinks this over and finds nothing bad in this plan and nods at her to start.

She quickly sends her other three Spirits back and calls Aquila and Aquarius.

As soon as their opponents disappear the others concentrate back on Lucy and Laxus, watching as they all join their hands. Lucy in the middle with Laxus on her right and Aquarius on her left, Aquila is flying above them.

They are not the only ones who are observing the them. The whole arena is waiting for the next move. Chapati is shouting something about a Unison Raid and Yajima is explaining how rare it is for mages to be able to do a Unison Raid and is excited to see if these two are able to do it.

"Oh bodies from the Heavens,  
Stars, Rain and Thunder."

The sky above them begins to darken. The air grows heavier.

"Show yourselves,  
and help to defeat our enemies."

It gets darker and darker, with sometime lightning flashing followed by a rather loud rumble and Stars are showing themselves in the dark.

"Rain down,  
and crush everything in your path."

The first raindrops hit the ground. The rumble gets louder and it seems as if the lightning is reaching farther down. The Stars seems bigger then before.

"We are your rulers,  
asking for destruction!"

Team A realizes that they need to do something fast if they want to have any chance of avoiding the attack. By now they all are completely wet.  
Erza requips Adamantine Armor, telling the others to hide under her barrier, hoping that this is strong enough to stops the massive incoming attack.  
They all can feel the immense pressure of magic in the air, knowing immediately that if they get hit by this attack they would be defeated.

"Strike!  
Celestial Thunderstorm!

With that many Stars fall down from the Heaven, heading directly for the Adamantine barrier from Erza. Star after star is hitting, weaken it little by little.

The lightning is striking in random places all around them, some hitting the barrier, helping to weaken it and some hitting the ground.

Then rain grows even more stronger, reaching a point where it's to much to seep into the ground, puddles growing bigger and bigger. Building a perfect way to conduct the lightning, amplifying it even.

And that is something Erza didn't think about. She set up the barrier above them so they can't get hit.

They weren't prepared to be attacked from the ground, their wet clothes making this much worse.

The first scream of pain is heard from Erza as she is severely shocked, dropping her Armor in that moment.

And in the next moment the Stars and Lightning from above connect with them, making them all scream in pain.

The next moment they all drop to the floor, defeated, twitching from the lightning running through them.

Seeing this Lucy and Laxus stops their attack and for a moment the whole arena is completely silent.

In that time Lucy thanks her Spirits and sends them back, feeling the great drop in her magical power.

Even though they stopped their attack, Laxus was still holding Lucy's hand, not wanting to let go. Lucy is feeling the same, so she doesn't makes a move to remove her hands from his. Seeing as she doesn't pull away, Laxus pulls her closer to himself and then suddenly twirls her in the air, to happy to care that everyone can see him acting like that.

Seeing this movement broke the whole arena from their stupor and the loud cheering begins. Yajima praising them for being able to do a Unison Raid and Mato declaring them the winners.

As soon as the winner is declared Cana and Juvia runs to them, finally free from the rune barrier, and jumps at them in their happiness. Not too far behind them are Mira and Gajeel, even though like always Gajeel wasn't one for showing much emotions he was instantly pulled into the group hug and they all ended up in a pile on the ground.


	20. Tag Battles

That Night Fairy Tail had another of their big parties. Team B celebrating their win and Team A somewhat mopping about their defeat. Natsu the most, he wanted to defeat these Sabertooth Slayers on his own.

But as sad as they all are about being defeated and with that loosing the chance to continue in the Games, they all can't help but smile happy and at the same time sadly at Lucy and Laxus. The two of them are sitting with the rest of their Team at a table in the middle of the ongoing party. But unlike the other days they were sitting close to one another and Lucy wasn't ignoring Laxus in anyway. If you look close enough, you can see that they are sitting just a little closer than one would normally do when just friends.

They all quietly observe as both, Lucy and Laxus, secretly glances at one another when the other isn't looking and they hope that nobody else notices this. And, apart from this group, nobody else notices this. They are all just to engrossed in the party.

But this is what gives them all hope. Hope that maybe someday the two can forgive them for their actions and that they can be great friends again. Then now that they or rather Team Natsu thinks about it, Lucy was distant to them too, probably not wanting to see them that she already knows. And still they don't think that she knows the whole story, how could she when Laxus told her about this and he didn't know all the facts. So hopefully Lucy will give them a chance to explain themselves, not that this would excuse their actions but maybe a little understandable.

The whole group has realized that it will never be how it was before but maybe they can at least build up some trust and a friendship again.

Later that Night, most of Fairy Tail lays passed out on the ground from all the booze, Laxus and Lucy sneak out together to have some time for themselves. Again the only ones who notices this are Team Natsu and the Thunder God Tribe.

Laxus who had seen how exhausted Lucy was and can feel that he himself is exhausted to asked Lucy if they want to take a walk outside and then go back to their hotel. Lucy instantly agrees and pulls him quietly out of the bar as to not raise any suspicion from the members who are still awake.

Outside she let his hand fall down and begins to walk but Laxus who already misses the feeling of her hand in his steps at her side and takes her hand in his again. Lucy who secretly hoped for this smiles happily up at him.

On their walk they didn't speak, just quietly enjoying the presence of one another and both deep in thought. Both are thinking about their fight earlier or to be more precise, about their Unison Raid. They both know how difficult it is to perform one, so seeing that they could do one means that they both trust the other completely and that there is at least some sort of bond between them. This thought makes both happy and content, along with the rising hope for a future together.

Lucy who still isn't completely sure about her own feeling since she didn't give herself the needed time to sort them out. But she knows for sure that she wants him in her life in some way. She remembers or knows that she was on her way to fall in love with him. But these feeling were at first destroyed by her Team and know she isn't sure if they are just back or need to build up again. And does she even want this? Certainly not when he isn't feeling the same. As to not think about this further she shakes her head and just looks up at the stars while they were walking back to their hotel, for the moment completely content.

Laxus on the other hand had different thoughts. He can't wait for the right time to ask her on that Date he is planing. He knows that sadly right now is not the time for that, as he is sure that she hasn't sorted out her own thoughts like she told him. And he hopes that she feels the same thing for him as he for her. Or at least that there is a possibility for him, if there is he will make her fall in love with him. He really can't wait to spend more alone time with her. He isn't sure if his Dragon already accepted her as his Mate, maybe he did but because they are so often together he hasn't realize this. But what he did notice was that even when they are just a little apart he becomes restless again, not as much as before but still noticeable.  
Maybe he can...

Feeling a little tug on his hand he interrupts his thoughts and looks down at her.

"We are at our hotel and as much as I would love to continue this walk with you I am really exhausted and would really like to get some sleep.", she smiles somewhat sadly up at him. "Alright, I'm pretty exhausted to. And who knows, maybe one of us needs to fight tomorrow so we should sleep to regain our magic faster.", he answers her.

They go up to their room an get ready for bed. Laying down Lucy quickly falls asleep. Laxus lays awake a little longer, watching Lucy from his own bed with loving eyes. And there in these calm moments while watching her he can hear the Dragon in him making a noise that almost sounds like a purr. He is really tempted to just stand up and crawle in her bed and then hold her close to him. But he has a feeling that this isn't something that she would like when the Lucy-Kick he got last time he ended up in her bed is something to go by.

And still, is this the Dragon telling him that he accepted Lucy as his Mate or is the Dragon still in the process to do so?

* * *

"And now finally it's time for the Battle we all are long awaiting! After our first two Tag Battles with Blue Pegasus winning and the other one ending in a draw we will finally see Fairy Tail against Sabertooth. Something we all are waiting for now for quite some time! And to make it even better, it's a Dragon Slayer Battle, The Twin Dragon Slayers from Sabertooth versus Laxus and Gajeel from Fairy Tail! Which Team will get out of this battle victorious?", Chapati yells full of excitement in the mike, making all of the Slayers cringe because of the volume.

"Hey Gajeel, Laxus, good luck out there and don't beat them up to much alright?", Lucy grins at them, confident that they won't have a problem against the other Slayers, "Oh and Laxus want some Lightning? Sorry Gajeel but I don't have any Iron I can offer you."

"How could I say no to that offer, Blondie?", Laxus grins at her, remembering how delicious the lightning from her was and how much that powered him up.

They go all down in the direction of the arena and before entering like the other day she calls out Aquila and gives Laxus as much lightning as he can eat, knowing that she doesn't need to fight today anymore so she doesn't need to save up magic.

Before entering the arena Laxus gives Lucy his coat and headphones, not wanting them to get damaged in the fight in any way. Lucy happily takes them and presses both to her chest, happy that Laxus trusts her with his precious belongings.

Afterwards Lucy runs back up to their booth to not miss anything from the battle. There she sits down with the coat in her lap and the headphones laying around her neck.

Laxus and Gajeel stand across from Sting and Rouge all waiting for the signal to begin the battle all of them confident that they will be the winner of this match.

"And start!", Mato yells before running from the arena to not get into the fight himself.

Gajeel wants to attack first but Laxus stops him, whispering to him to wait for their first attack to watch what they can do. Gajeel nods and for a few seconds they all just stare at one another, raising the tension in the arena to new highs. This right now is probably one of the most exciting fights to see in these Games.

And finally the fight starts after Stings murmurs, "I really wanted to fight Natsu-san, but I guess Laxus will do too. Maybe defeating Laxus is even better since Natsu-san seemingly always wants to fight and beat him."

Like Natsu normally does when he wants to fight Laxus, Sting runs at Laxus with his fist raised and covered in his own magic.

And like Laxus does it when Natsu does the same thing he awaits the oncoming fist with a stoic mask on his face and raises his own fist, covered in lightning, just in time to punch Sting in the face. This leads to Sting being thrown back and flying through the air were he passes Rouge on his way before he crashes to the ground.

Rouge eyes widen as he watches his Twin being thrown through the air this easily. In his shock he had stopped his own attack at Gajeel and stopped paying attention, Gajeel uses this moment and attacks him with his Iron Dragon's Club. Thus Rouge landed on the ground beside his Twin.

A gasp runs through the arena, what just happened? The famous Twin Dragon Slayers from Sabertooth beaten this easily.

But the next moment they were already up again.

Sting attacked Laxus with his White Dragon's Roar but the only thing you can hear and see is the lightning as Laxus teleports away and reappears behind Sting from where he attack with his own Roar.

In the meantime Rough attacks with Shadow Dragon's Slash which Gajeel is able to block with his Sword. And with that sends him once again flying to Sting, just in time to be too hit with Laxus Roar.

And once again they were sent flying, only to crash to the ground were they twitch a little from Laxus lightning that is still running through them.

Laxus and Gajeel calmly waits for them to stand up again. And standing up they do a few seconds later. Without saying anything they shift into their Drive modes before they attack again.

For the moment too shocked that they are able to shift in this mode, Laxus was unfocused and got hit by Sting a few times. With Gajeel it is the same thing.

Before jumping away from Laxus, Sting marks him with his Stigma, rendering him to be motionless and destroying his purple shirt in the process.

Rouge avoids all of Gajeel's attacks by just turning in a Shadow and then always attacking when he doesn't know where he is.

Seeing that Laxus can't move for the moment Sting can't stop a little laugh and explains in a cocky way what he did to Laxus. Being this cocky he didn't noticed as Laxus lightning runs across his body, burning the Stigma away. And in the next moment Laxus already teleports away again and and lands a few feet away from him. From this new position Laxus proceeds to attack the stunned Sting with his Breakdown Fist. Sting crashes to the ground on the other side of the arena. Laxus changes into his Lightning Body and follows Sting, seeing that he is still laying on the ground Laxus ends the fight with his Dragon's Jaw.

Gajeel who is slowly really annoyed with this shadows and Rouge always avoiding his attacks in the last minute shouts a warning to Laxus before he uses his his Roar while he spins around, thus sending his Roar in every direction at the same time and hitting Rouge in the process who has used materialized at his left to attack again. With his defense lowered for the moment Gajeel attacks the flying Rouge with Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs. While flying through the air Rouge isn't able to dodge to Iron Lances and is hit multiple times. But Gajeel doesn't wait and follows his own attack immediately, having covered his whole body in Iron Scales he punches Rouge to the ground before he can crash down himself. Not thinking that this is enough Gajeel sends several more scale covered punches at Rouge until he thinks that he is defeated.

To be sure Laxus sends a big lightning bolt at Rouge as he comes over to Gajeel.

And just like that the fight was already over, leaving the whole arena completely shocked, well apart from Fairy Tail of course.

The Fairy Tail booth screams in joy at winning. And their Team congratulates both Slayers as soon as they are back in theirs booth.

Lucy is first jumping at Gajeel to hug him and then doing the same to Laxus. Everyone in the booth notices that this hug is just a little longer before they release one another and they all notice the look in their, especially Laxus', eyes. A look that says, that they really don't want to break the contact between them.

And during all this nobody noticed the glare the Guild Master from Sabertooth send at Sting and Rouge. Nobody noticed menace in his eyes as he turns around and leaves the arena.


	21. Explanations

Later that Lucy was just on her way to the Team meeting to prepare for the next day. Everyone knows that it will be some kind of an all out Battle with every Guild at the same time and with their First being the Fairy Tactician she wanted to make a Battle plan to lead to their sure victory.

It was still around an hour before the meeting starts but Lucy wanted to have some time for herself and decided to have a quiet and peaceful walk through town and to maybe meditate a bit. Meditating always calms her and she feels refreshed after.

She had just changed her direction to go to the same place she was on her first time in Crocus to do just that when she hears the shouting behind her. In her short moment of confusion she stops and that gives the shouting people enough time to catch up to her.

"Luce, we.." "Don't call me that!", she hisses out and turns around to walk away, absolutely not in the mood to speak with them.

"Please Lucy, we need to speak with you. We want to explain why we did what we did... I know that you aren't very fond of us at the moment but please..", Gray pleads. "There really is nothing that would explain your behavior or excuse it!", again she hisses and begins to walk again.

"Lucy! I demand that you listen to us!" "You demand?!", Lucy spins angrily around to glare at Erza.

"I am sorry Lucy, I did not plan to sound like that. I only wish to speak with you and the chance to explain ourselves. I know very well what we did to you and Laxus is unforgivable but please!", the always strong Titania pleads with a single tear trailing down her left cheek.

It probably was this single tear and the desperate look in her eyes that stops Lucy from turning around again and leaving them. She looks them all in the eyes and then sighs, "Alright, but you don't have much time. We have a meeting and I need to go in around half an hour."

And with that she turns around to search for a private place to talk.

"Alright, start!"

"First you should know that it was me who convinced Erza and Gray to do this. They were at first against it but I was able to convince them that this was for the best. If I wouldn't have done that they probably would have never done anything like that..."

Lucy isn't sure what she should think about this. In one way it's nice to hear that they would have never done it on their own accord but why did they let him convince them? And it was really painful to hear that her best and first friend would do something like that. That he would convince their friends to get what he wants.

"He is right but that doesn't mean it's all his fault we let him convince us after all. We could have tried to stop him and convince him that there is nothing wrong. But we too were, well..., we were worried that he would hurt you and we only wanted to protect you. We all remember how he treated woman and didn't want this happen to you too. But if we had looked closer and not just assumed things we would have been able to see that this wasn't the case. So I am really sorry for that, Lucy!", Gray bows to her along with Erza.

"And before you say anything else, please, let me explain why I convinced them. As you know I am a Dragon Slayer as is Laxus. And maybe you have heard of it before but like real Dragons we claim Mates and Kin. All of us have this Dragon inside of us and some of us are better in controlling this Beast than others. This Dragon inside of us is the one who claims our Mate or Kin but for that to happen we need to have a strong bond with this person. My Dragon claimed you as Kin. We Dragons are really possessiv and protective and seeing you spend this much time with Laxus didn't sit well with me and my Dragon. And that Laxus is a Dragon Slayer himself only made it worse. We are very protective and possessive with our family towards normal people or Mages but we absolutely doesn't like it when another Dragon steps into out territory. That's why even though Gajeel and I are somewhat friends we still doesn't spend much time with each other and when we do, we fight. With Laxus is it the same, only that I have less to do with him. And well... I am ashamed to admit it but when you spend so much time with Laxus, I hadn't enough control over my Dragon and instincts and my possessive and protective side took over. I wanted to have you back at my side, to spend more time with you. I needed to have my Kin at my side were I can protect you. And like Gray already said I too wanted to protect you from being hurt by Laxus. I know that I exaggerated because of the Dragon I didn't have under control. Would I have been able to control him better then all of this would probably have never happen. I am so sorry Lucy that I caused you pain because I wasn't able to control myself. And I am so sorry that I pulled Erza and Gray into it. I realized too late what Laxus is to you and what you are to him. I'm just... I'm so sorry Luce!"

During his explanation he fell to his knees, tears silently dripping down his face. Yes he did realize already before how much he hurt her but right now, now that he had spoken everything out loud he finally realizes the real impact it took on her. And it broke him. To know that he is the reason his own Kin hurt so much...

For a few minutes everything is silent while Lucy lets their explanations fully sink in. Trying to really comprehend how it could have come to this point.

"So you are saying, everything you did was because of the amount of time I spend with Laxus? And that from there you thought over it and came to the conclusion that he probably wants to hurt me?"

"Well you could say it like that. We knew he had changed and that maybe he didn't have the intention to truly hurt you but there was still the chance that he would with his One-Nightstand demeanor. We knew this is no excuse...", Erza starts but Lucy interrupts her, "No excuse? No fucking excuse?! What is wrong with you? If you wanted to spend more time with me you could have told me so. And if you really feared that he would hurt me, you could have talked with me about it!"

"I'm sorry Luce, maybe they would have done just that when I wouldn't have let my Dragon control my actions...", Natsu adds silently, still with the tears trailing down is face.

"And you with your Dragon... I'm not sure if I completely understand this... But Dragon or not, how could you do this?! You are my best and first friend, well maybe were my best friend. I'm really not sure if I will ever be able to trust you this much or at all again...", by now Lucy has tears streaming down her face along with Erza and Gray, "Not you alone, but all of you.. I just... I need time to think about all of this and what this means for me... for us..."

And with one last quick glance at all of them she turns around and sprints away, powered up with her sunglasses so that there is no chance for them to catch up.

But she didn't have to worry about this. Gray and Erza collapsed to the ground too, sobbing there along with Natsu. All of them feeling their hearts shatter, knowing that they are the only ones to blame.

* * *

Lucy runs and runs until she reaches the little park where Laxus told her the truth about what happened. She goes to the same place as they were and sits down, sobbing and breaking down. Everything comes up again, all the pain, all the loneliness and all the confusion.

She knew she should have stopped them from talking to her, knowing that it would end like this. And now exactly that what she wanted to avoid until the Games are over happened.

She tries, she really tries to calm down again but at this point there is no way for her to do so. So she just sits there and cries.

* * *

Laxus was on his own walk trough the town when he smelled her, her and her tears.

Immediately he speeds up in search for her until he finds her crying in the little park. There he slows down and quietly approaches her, so as to not scare her.

He says nothing. He only sits himself down next to her and pulls her in a hug.

At first she tenses up but as soon as she realizes who he is, she burrows her herself in his hug, leaning her head against his chest and just cries.

To make it more comfortable for them, he lifts her up then settles her sideways on his lap. She curls up, still with her head resting against his chest, and he wraps her even more securely in his arms.

Feeling her this close to him, even though the reason is not the one he wants it to be, makes him softly purr. A sound that he never made before but for the moment he decides to not think about it more. Instead he just lowers his own head to rest it on top of hers and continues purring, as it seems to help her calm down.

Lucy's cries and sobbing slowly turns to just tears streaming down her face until they stop too.

Even after she stopped crying they hold their position, both relishing in the closeness to one another.

Lucy is the first to speak up, still snuggling into his chest, "Thanks Laxus, I really needed that. It's just... my old Team explained to my why they did this to us. And in some way I can understand them, can understand Natsu with all this Dragon instincts and such but still... it hurt so much!"

"Shh.. it's okay Lucy. I got you! And I know your pain but we will get trough this." "You know, as much as I am hurt, I am angry! I just don't know what to do right now!", Lucy leans away to be able to look into his eyes, eyes were she can see tears glistening. Tears he wouldn't let fall.

"How about for now we just concentrate on beating everyones asses tomorrow? I'm pretty sure with our bad-ass move from yesterday we alone could whip their asses!", he smirks at her, hoping to lighten the mood and distract her. She giggles at this and he smiles at her, happy that he was able to bring this sound out of her. He loves her giggle, it always makes him happy to hear it, even better when he is the one who makes her do it.

This smiles catches her completely off guard, it's just so beautiful and real.

They gaze into each others eyes, not realizing that they slowly lean into each other.

And with a sudden jolt Lucy crashes her forehead against his, making them both groan in pain.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry Laxus! But Horologium, one of my Spirits, just set up his alarm in my mind because I asked him to tell me when I need to go to the meeting...", Lucy blushed in embarrassment and hides against his chest.

Laxus chuckles shorty and then tells her that everything is alright.

They sit there a little longer, knowing that they doesn't need much time to their meeting place and Laxus can always teleport them there if they are late.

They both think about what just happened now.

Laxus is almost happy that her Spirit interrupted them. Of course not because he didn't want to kiss her, he very much wants to do that, but he knows that she is emotionally overwhelmed at the moment and doesn't want to add anything to that. Furthermore when he finally gets the chance to kiss her he wants it to be perfect, in a moment that belongs alone to them and it not tainted with prior thought about their Teams.

Lucy doesn't really know what to think about this. Oh yes, she really had nothing against kissing him. But before that happens she needs to sort her own thoughts and feelings.

In the end Laxus is the first to stop his trail of thoughts and stands up, with Lucy still in his arms. He presses her shortly against him before releasing her to give her the chance to wipe away her tears and maybe clean up a bit before they see the rest of their Team. After doing just that Lucy steps back into his arms and he teleports them to the meeting.


	22. Tactic

Arriving at their meeting point they see that they are the first ones to arrive apart from the First. They sat down together and began to list the different strengths from the different Guilds they knew about.

They start with Blue Pegasus since that is the Guild Lucy has already fought with. Before they could finish with Blue Pegasus, the rest arrived and immediately start to help adding more information about their strengths and weaknesses.

A list for each Guild and a summary about every participant later they began to list their own strengths and weaknesses.

Of course Mavis could just tell them a tactic that would work best and she probably will do so but for now she wants everyone of them to know who they are against. She knows all her tactics are based on probabilities and so it could always be that they have to fight against someone she didn't predict.

Time flies by and evening comes, they pause for a short dinner and talk a little about different things.

Lucy is happy about this whole situation, she feels just so content. It's a really good feeling to be valued for her own abilities, so much that she is in this Team of strong Mages. A Team where nobody thinks about the need to protect her, no, they believe in her, believe that she is a capable Mage and able to fight on her own. Only now that she thinks about it she realizes that her old Team always thought that they need to protect her on missions. They always tried to take over her fights in order to prevent her from getting hurt. she hadn't thought very much about it before but with that they also prevented her from getting stronger.

So this right now feel really good. And Lucy will do everything to make it stay like this, confident in her own abilities.

Laxus thought along the line. He is really proud of her and how far she has come in this short amount of time she has been away training. And even though he knows this, there is this part inside of him that at the moment wants nothing more than to take her and bring her away to somewhere safe. Somewhere where she doesn't have to fight. Somewhere where nobody can hurt her or harm her in anyway. But he knows that this isn't really an option. He could never do this to her. But the urge to do so only gets stronger and stronger the nearer the fight gets and the thoughts that he maybe can't help her if she needs it makes it only worse.

"So, I think I can start to explain the best tactic and way to win!", First says cheerfully. "Alright, we will listen Master Mavis!", Mira says equally cheerful.

And so Mavis explains her plan of attack. Telling them all to wait at the beginning and where to move from there on at what time. Saying them to split up and each of them fighting a stronger member of the others Guilds.

Something Laxus doesn't like at all. The thought to separate from Lucy doesn't sit well with him, with him and his Dragon as he now realizes. A growl escapes, so lowly that only Gajeel is able to hear it.

Gajeel was aware of this situation between Lucy and Laxus since he was able to hear the talk between Natsu and his Team, explaining that Laxus is probably on the way to see Lucy as his Mate. But he thought that it would be best to not do anything in the matter, it's never good when you interfere between a Dragon and his Mate or possible Mate. He wasn't sure if Laxus Dragon has claimed Lucy until now. And he isn't so sure that Laxus is aware of that. So hearing that growl right at the moment where the First spoke about separating and going alone can't mean something good. Added to that the fact he is now looking at Lucy as if he wants to take her and bring her away can't really mean anything good. Maybe now is the point where he should step in?

"So Lucy, you should meet Minerva at this place. I think that you are our best option to beat her, after seeing your fight the other day. It seems that she can't use her magic when she can't see her target. But there is a possibility that other strong Mages will seek you out after seeing your fight against Jura. Some may want to test their own abilities against a Mage who nearly beat a Wizard Saint. Said that, it could even be that Jura will search for you to get a rematch. But according to my calculations that is only a small possibility. And the possibility that you would have to fight against more at the same time is even smaller. After defeating Minerva you will...", during the whole explanation about Lucy's part in the fight Laxus couldn't control his growling and the need to take Lucy away. The growling got louder and louder until everyone looked questionable at him and Master Mavis stopped in her explanation.

That is the point where Gajeel realizes that he waited too long, he should have stepped in sooner.

Suddenly Laxus calms down again, his growling gets quieter and quieter until Gajeel is the only one who can still hear it, but even he has to concentrate to really hear it.

They all throw one last glance towards Laxus but then resume their planning.

What none of the rest knew, Lucy, who sat next to Laxus, has silently grabbed his hand under the table. Squeezing it and so calming him down, reassuring that she is there.

Just this one touch has calmed Laxus down, something that bewilders him greatly in someway. But in the other way not, he is now sure that his Dragon has claimed her as his Mate and so he can only guess that her touch will calm him. Just like her scent that wafts in his nose as he gingerly, so that no one notices, pulls her a little closer to himself, happy that she doesn't pull away.

Lucy is really curious about what happened only seconds ago but decided to ask him later about it, for now the fight tomorrow is more important to her. Yes, Master Mavis saying that maybe some of the stronger members will search her and fight her frightens her a bit. But on the other hand it makes her happy too, this only means that they see her as a threat. And that means a lot to her, even if that means she maybe has to fight a lot and maybe even loses. She can only give her best and hope that it will be enough.

Lucy notices as Laxus pulls her closer and for a short moment she considers to pull away but then decides that there really is no need to. She likes being near him, very much so. And when he wants her close, why should she stop it?  
Yes, she still isn't completely sure what she feels but well... This probably only helps her to find out, so she goes along with it.

Hearing the plan from the First makes her wonder in awe at the Spirit. She really deserves her nickname of Fairy Tactician. Lucy can only hope to be sometime this good. She knows that she is really good with tactics herself, she needs to be since working with multiple Celestial Spirits with different abilities needs for her to consider their abilities in every situation she faces, but this is way out of her league. But still, she can't stop thinking that there is a way to make this plan a little better.

"Master Mavis? I have a suggestion if that would be alright with you?", Lucy speaks up near the end of the meeting. "Oh yes, of course! I always welcome new ideas.", Master Mavis smiles gently at the now shy Lucy.

"Well as you know I am a Celestial Spirit Mage and as such I need to be good in tactics too. And I couldn't help but think that maybe I can give our plan a little extra boost.", Lucy answers, gaining more and more confidence. "Of course I know this and I am really interested what you could think of to make this plan even better.", the First is now excited herself, never before had someone actually made suggestions. Most people are too scared to say something as soon as they hear who she is. It's always good to be respected for their own abilities but it's good too to hear other ideas. Even she isn't omniscient.

"So I was thinking about my Spirits and their different abilities. And then I thought, why not take out a few of the weaker members right at the beginning without them directly knowing that it was Fairy Tail that took them down.", Lucy begins to explain.

"I like your idea Bunny. But how do you plan on doing so. We can't be at different places at the same time...", Gajeel asks. And then suddenly Mavis looks excitedly up at Lucy, seemingly having found out what her plan is. Or at least to some agree.

"Well you can't be at different places at the same time but I sort of can.", Lucy grins cheekily at them before pulling out her Keys and dangling them in front of their faces. "You want to use your Spirits to confuse them? Which one and how?", Mira asks curious.

"Well at first I only thought about calling Virgo silently and letting her appear directly in the ground from where she can tunnel all around the fighting zone and take out the weaker ones. No one will see her coming since she will be in the ground the whole time, only popping out to trap them in either her Spica Lock or Spica Hole. And as soon as they are trapped she can knock them out or chain them up, she even has some magic canceling cufffs." Lucy explains further.

"And this will give us the chance to solely concentrate on our main targets while at the same time making more points. Bunny, I am impressed with your idea!", Gajeel grins at her. "Me too, Lucy. This is a very good idea. But you said at first... Does that mean that you have another idea?", the First asks impressed.

"Yes Gajeel gave me the idea to be correct. With Gemini I or we can be at different places at the same time and confuse our opponents even more. If you let me, I could let them copy you all now.", she tells them her second idea.

"Blondie, not to sound rude or if I wouldn't believe in your strength... But as far as I remember correctly you have to have the same or higher magic amount than the Mage you want to copy. And again, I don't think that you are weak but do you have really so much magic to copy all of us? I mean, especially Mira and myself have really high magic levels and Gajeel too with being a Dragon Slayer.", Laxus speaks up, hoping to not offend her in any way. That she doesn't pull away makes him believe that she isn't offended.

"Oh don't be so cocky Laxus.", Lucy sticks her tongue out at him, "Most of you probably doesn't know it but we Celestial Mages have really large magic containers. It costs alot magic to call out Spirits, so it could very much be that I have the same amount of magic as you have. And even if I didn't, I can still copy your appearance and knowledge without your magic. Don't worry I won't let them search for any secrets or asks them what they found out..."

"Confusing the enemy, always a good strategy. I think I should rethink my former plan and add your ideas Lucy. It is good to know that Fairy Tail has another and new tactician with them!", Master Mavis smiles proudly and impressed at Lucy.

So they reconsider their previous strategy and think about where her Spirits attack best and what this will change in their plan.

During that time Lucy calls Gemini and let's them copy all of their Team.

In the end they only changed the previous plan a bit with only one major change in the course of action after meeting their first opponent.

The final plan is something all of them approve.

Even Laxus is somewhat okay with that plan, even though he still wants to be at Lucy's side the whole time tomorrow.

Leaving the room first, Lucy can't contain her happy squeal any longer. That the First, the Fairy Tactician, finds her ideas this good... this is just wow!

The second to leave is Laxus. He came out just in time to see Lucy jump up in joy one last time. And he can't stop the smile from spreading over his whole face. Seeing her happy, always makes him happy too. Now he only has to wait for the right time to tell her about his feeling and her being his Mate. But he doesn't want to go to fast, so the Date needs to come first.

But for now he should concentrate on the battle.


	23. Grand Magic Game Part 1

The next morning came and the arena was filling up slowly, filling every seat available. Everyone was cheering loudly, waiting for the participants to arrive, waiting for the final Game to start.

Gradually the Teams arrive, each Team is greeted with loud cheering in the arena. The narrator presents each Team again with each participant alone, giving a short summary to what they have done until now in the Games. Yajima highlights each win and states the points from each Team. The Lacrima-TV shows the highlights he is speaking of, showing how Fairy Tail again and again proved their prior assumptions wrong.

The last Team to enter is Fairy Tail, currently in the lead. And the booing with what they were greeted on their first day is now completely replaced with thunderous and roaring cheers.

"All participants please come down in the arena!"

Every Team look at one another and then make their way down in the arena, to hear the last details about this last fight.

"Soon every Team will be teleported to a different place inside the city. The whole city will be your arena to fight and there is absolutely no need to worry about damages to the city. The whole Team will be teleported to the same place, from there you will have to search for the other Teams to fight them. Defeating one gets your Team one point, but in each Team there is a leader, defeating this leader gains your Team five points. Nobody knows who is the leader, apart from the Team of course, you will only find out when the leader is defeated. You will have a few minutes now to decide who will be the leader of your Team, then please write the name on a paper. I will collect the papers, so that we now when the leader is defeated. We of course promise you that we won't announce any of the leaders until defeat."

Walls were set up between the different Teams, so that the Dragons Slayers couldn't hear the others decision.

Not five minutes later the walls were taken down and Mato collecting the paper with the names.

"And now, let this year's final battle start!", Mato shouts in his mike and with that the different Teams are teleported away.

* * *

The Teams land all around the city and spot a big countdown over their heads, counting down from twenty.

They go in starting position, each facing the direction they want to go and some getting together in smaller groups.

Ten seconds left.

They give each other one last glance and then close their eyes to concentrate on the coming fight.

Time up.

* * *

"What are they doing?" "Don't they want to fight?" "Are they giving up?" "Come on! Go Fairy Tail!" "Fight!" "Don't just stand there!"

Shouts are heard throughout the whole arena. Everyone is shocked that the Fairy Tail Team is just standing there not doing anything. Well that is what they all assume.

The Fairy Tail booth wasn't any different. They were shouting at them to finally start. They stop as they hear Master Mavis suddenly giggling, swinging her legs for and back while sitting on the ledge.

"First?", Master Makarov asks. "Everything is going according to plan!", is all she says before turning back around to watch the Lacrima-TV.

* * *

In the meantime Lucy has silently called for her Spirits.

Virgo appears directly in the earth, there she instantly begins to tunnel her way to her first target; members from Quatro Cerberus.

Using her earth magic Virgo finds her targets rather fast.

The first she takes out is Warcry. Before he even realizes what happens Virgo pops out directly in front of him, grabs him and then proceeds to throw him away. While he was still flying Virgo already dives back in the ground. Instead of crashing to the ground her Spica Hole appears and traps him, there Virgo awaits him to chain him with her magic cancelling cuffs.

Having defeated him Virgo searches for her next target, leaving Warcry cuffed behind in her Spica Hole.

Luckily for her Rocker wasn't far behind Warcry, since they decided to start as he Team. He experiences the same fate as his fellow Guild mate.

The whole fight was over so fast that nobody realized that what happened.

They only realized this when suddenly two points were added to Fairy Tail and the number beside Quatro Cerberus participants drops to three.

* * *

"It appears as if Fairy Tail was somehow able to defeat two members from Quatro Cerberus. We have placed some runes on each participants to note us when they are defeated. These runes identify who defeated them, adding this automatically to our list.", Mato shouts in his mike, giving a short explanation as to why the numbers suddenly changed.

* * *

Elsewhere Toby and Yuka defeat Nobarly.

The Trimens take out Jäger before meeting Araña and Beth. They defeat Araña but before they can proceed to take out Beth too Virgo is already there and makes the point for Fairy Tail. Again without anyone noticing that it was her, the only thing they were able to see was a glimpse of her pink hair.

Shortly after that Millianna and Risley come up against Yuka and Toby. Millianna manages to takes out Yuka but Toby was able to defeat Risley before she could help her friend. When she realizes this Toby was already running away to hopefully meet up someone else from his Guild.

But he didn't have the chance to get very far before Bacchus appears seemingly out of nowhere and beats him before he can even blink.

Next Bacchus turns to take out Millianna but finds instead Kagura standing in her place.

They were just about to start their fight when suddenly Erza steps from behind a corner, swords ready to fight.

* * *

"Erza?!"

Seeing Erza appear on one of the screens the whole arena turns wide eyed to the Fairy Tail booth, even the narrators and most of Fairy Tail stare at her. The only ones who didn't seem the least surprised were the members of the former Team A and the current Team since Lucy told them about this shortly before the fight started.

Erza states only "Gemini" and then turns back around to the screen.

"Ahh, I see. Lucy realized that you with your swords are probably the most fitted to fight against Kagura and copied you. Or am I wrong? She never mentioned anything about this yesterday during our meeting...", Mavis is the first to connect the dots.

"Yes, this morning she suddenly stood in front of our hotel and asked us if Gemini can copy us for the battle today. She explained that she had this thought when waking up and came directly to us.", Erza explains what happened loudly enough so the whole arena was able to hear since there still is complete silence.

* * *

At the same time Fairy Tail heeds out, using this confusion to start their attack unnoticed.

They all run in different directions, trusting Mavis calculations.

The first to meet his opponent is Laxus, he is going against Orga. Mavis predicted that the Lightning God Slayer probably wants to find out who is the stronger one. And she was right.

"Let's see, you may have Dragon Slayer Magic but do you really believe you could defeat a God with it like I am?", Orga taunts.

Like the stoic man he is Laxus doesn't react at all beside a raised eyebrow, arms still crossed in front of his chest.

Both wait patiently for the other to attack, but nothing happens.

Then Laxus sighs and speaks up, hoping to rile the God Slayer enough with this so he attacks first. "Didn't the MPF already show that I am stronger? Can't be a strong God you can defeat with this, when I got such a higher number."

* * *

On her way to fight against Ichiya Mira flies past Jenny and considers to take her out but then spots Sherria and decides against, not wanting to go against Master Mavis and Lucy's tactic.

Not long after she meets Ichiya, seeing a defeated Millianna.

Juvia is on her way to fight against the Trimens, using a similar strategy to the one she used during her first battle in Hidden.

And Gajeel of course goes to the place were Mavis supposed that Rouge will most likely be.

Last but not least, Lucy goes of to the place were Minerva easily can find her and where they have enough place to fight. First, saying that with a 92% probability Minerva will seek her out to have a rematch. And again she was right.

* * *

"There is a 97% probability that Rufus will launch an attack at Fairy Tail before they can start their fight.", Mavis states

And just as she finishes Rufus does exactly that, casting A Night of Falling Stars, shocking all of Fairy Tail. This is when they remember that she is called the Fairy Tactician.

For a moment the whole arena holds their breath, waiting for the Fairy Tail Team to be hit by Rufus attack. They of course don't know anything about Mavis and her predictions.

Thanks to this prediction all of them are able to avoid the attack and as predicted the current opponents from Fairy Tail take this little moment, where they all are concentrated on avoiding the attack, to attack themselves.

* * *

Gemini-Erza and Kagura immediately engages in a sword fight, leaving Bacchus out. Seemingly having forgotten about him.

They go back and forth. Blocking and attacking each other, it almost looks like a dance.

The moment Bacchus decided to step in and take them out by surprise he is surprised himself. Out of nowhere Sting appears and defeats him with just one strong punch, gaining five points for his Team and at the same time defeats the last participant from Quatro Cerberus. Then he sneaks away without Gemini-Erza or Kagura even noticing that he was there to begin with.

Lyon observes this from a spot on top a roof. He wanted to fight against Kagura but upon seeing the raging sword fight he decides against it. Instead he wants to follow Sting and maybe fight him but he was too fast and escaped Lyon. So with the next thing not going as hoped he decides to find someone else from his Guild to team up against one of the stronger Mages to have a better chance of winning.

* * *

The Trimens surround Juvia, thinking they have the advantage. They didn't notice the thin water layer under their feet.

Before the attacks they just launched at her can hit her Juvia transforms into her Water Body and falls to the ground. From there she travels behind Hibiki and traps him in her Water Lock until he looses his consciousness. One point more for Fairy Tail.

Next she wants to attack Ren but he is suddenly thrown through the air. Behind him Sherria appears, apparently already finished with her fight against Jenny.

Sherria engages Ren in a fight, a fight where he really hasn't ha chance win. All attacks he can launch at her are just eaten by the Sky God Slayer, filling her magic containers up again.

Seeing this Juvia quickly turns around to fight against Eve, defeating him as fast as possible, while Sherria still fights against Ren to regain more magic.

This was a little unexpected, so Juvia needs to be fast to get away.

Defeating Sherria was planned in the next part of their tactic, she needs to be fast, especially now that the little Slayer has probably all her magic back.

With one last attack she defeats Eve, shortly before Sherria decides to finish her own fight against Ren. Seeing this Juvia starts running to her next place to be, the place where she is supposed to meet up with Mira.

* * *

Somewhere else Gajeel has some troubles with defeating Rouge since the place now has so many shadow where the Slayer can hide.

Every time Gajeel is just about to land a hit, Rouge just turns into shadow and appears behind or next to Gajeel, hits him too fast for Gajeel to dodge in time and then turns in a shadow yet again.

After sometime Gajeel is having enough of this and when he remembers that Natsu was able to eat Laxus lightning he thinks that maybe he is able to eat these shadows.

Luckily for him he was right, eating the shadows feels definitely wrong but he does it nonetheless.

This time when Rough tries to hit him when emerging from the shadows he turns into a shadow himself. The only thing the people in the arena can see are two shadow chasing each other, with now and then a hand appearing from the shadows, trying to grab the other.

And then finally Gajeel is able to grab Rouge and throw him out of the shadows, chasing after the flying body and hits him with his Roar before he is able to turn into a shadow again.

But this wasn't really enough for Gajeel, so he proceeds to use his Iron Dragon's Club to punch Rouge while he is still in the air.

Rouge crashes hard to the ground, laying still for a few second before he tries to lift himself up again. Seeing this Gajeel again turns into a shadow and reappears in front of the now standing Rouge.

Rouge gets ready to attack Gajeel with his own Roar, to counter this Gajeel prepares his own Roar.

The normal Shadow Dragon's Roar from Rouge is nothing against Gajeel's Iron Shadow Dragon's Roar, a Roar so big and strong that you can see it clearly even from the arena.

Thus Rouge is defeated and Gajeel makes his way to his next destination.

* * *

On his way to get a rematch against Lucy Jura meets Rufus and another fight breaks out, stopping him from getting to Lucy while she still fight Minerva.

This again is something Mavis predicted. The only thing she wasn't so sure about is how long this fight will last. But she and everyone hopes that Rufus is able to last at least a little while to give Lucy time to defeat Minerva first before she has to face against Jura. No one wants for Lucy to fight against two strong opponents at the same time, especially with how much magic she already used. When Rufus can keep up as long as Mavis predicted, Lucy should be able to defeat Minerva in time and reach her next destination before she faces off against Jura.

As good as Rufus is and as much different and strong attacks he has memorized, against someone like Jura this is still not enough. Someone who is a Wizard Saint and has more experience.

This time Jura didn't hold back like he did at the beginning against Lucy. No this time he was giving his all, wanting his chance to fight Lucy again, knowing that she still is a very strong opponent. A opponent where he should have as much magic left as possible, this time he won't underestimate her.

With this intention in mind he defeats Rufus in no time at all, shocking Mavis.

All there is left to do now is hope that he will need some time to find Lucy and that Lucy can defeat Minerva fast too.

* * *

The fight against Ichiya was nothing for Mira.

Yes he was able to block some of her attack and even hit her with some of his perfumes, but all this was noting for the Takeover Mage.

With her speed she could just fly away from the perfume clouds before they could take effect or even better, most she could inhale like the Slayers to with her element.

These perfumes could be seen as poison and her Satan Souls love to eat some poison from time to time.

After defeating him, and with that taking down the last participant from Blue Pegasus, rather fast Mira turns around and makes her way to her meeting place with Juvia, hoping that the Water Mage didn't run into trouble.

On her way she hums a happy tune, almost skipping with how happy her Satan Souls are about the poison she just consumed.

This combined with the twitching Mage she just defeated in no time at all behind her leads to a shiver running down among the watching people, no matter if they are Mages or not.

* * *

Minerva remembering what happened the last time as she tried to defeat Lucy as soon as she had her Spirits out captures her immediately, knowing that there is no way out for her as long as she don't want hit.

Thinking that with Lucy captured the fight is easily over, Minerva laughs cruelly and begins to walk again to search her next victim, torturing Lucy inside the sphere along the way.

The whole arena gapes at the easy defeat over Lucy, all disappointed. They all hoped for another remarkable fight between the two women, especially Lucy they hoped to see fight more in this battle.

And well, Lucy wouldn't be Lucy when she would give up this easily. So while Minerva continues to throw blow after blow at her inside the sphere she calls out Aries and asks her to fill the whole sphere with her wool, thinking that it will probably break or something like this since Minerva won't be able to see inside her own sphere.

Shortly before the whole sphere is filled with the wool Lucy hears a faint whimper coming from behind her but things that she just imagined this since it was so quiet. And this is something she can't really think about at the moment, the next moment she is free from Minervas capture and Aries produces more and more wool all around them and Minerva.

And this was the moment Minerva already lost, even though she didn't know it yet.

There was just no chance for her to blast the wool away at the speed Aries replaces the wool while Lucy moves through it without a problem. She uses her speed to move and attack Minerva from random directions, hitting her with Regulus and her added strength again and again.

Being the tactician she is, Lucy clearly remember how Minerva fights and uses this for her own benefit.

Lucy knows that she needs to take out Minerva fast, having Gemini out in Erza's form and before that Virgo for some time and now Aries takes it toll on her magic reserves. And Minerva is only her first strong opponent.

With this thought Lucy rushed at her one last time, hitting her full force with Regulus following her flight and then delivering a Lucy Kick with the added strength Minerva crashed into a wall. To be sure she quickly calls out Virgo again to chain her up and then leaves for her next meeting point.

"Princess? I found something I think you should look at.", Virgo calls from behind her. Hearing this she turns around and walks back to her Spirit.

And there, half under Minerva she sees an exceed. "Isn't that one of the exceeds from her own Guild? Why is he here? And why does he looks so shaken up?", Lucy mumbles to herself, then shakes her head and comes to a conclusion of what to do now, "Virgo, can you bring this little guy to the Sabertooth booth? I don't want him to stay here on the battle field." "Of course, Princess!", and without asking for punishment Virgo starts running.

Lucy again starts to move in her previous direction when she hears something behind her, turning around her eyes widen in shock.

"Ah, finally I found you! This time I won't hold back!"

* * *

 **Sorry that this took me so long and that this is not even the whole battle.**

 **Originally I planned to update the finished battle scene as one Chapter but as you can see I decided against it. Finishing it will probably take some more time since now the really interesting fights will start. Fights, I hopefully can better describe as these short scenes.**

 **And so since I didn't want to make you any longer for an update you get this now and the rest later.**


	24. Grand Magic Game Part 2

Gemini-Erza and Kagura are still locked in a fierce battle of swords. But looking closely you can see that Kagura has the upper hand in this battle.

Yes Lucy became much stronger but she is still not strong enough to let Gemini copy Erza with her different armors and without them it's hard for them to keep up with Kagura. Right now Gemini-Erza is fighting in Erza's normal Heart Kreuz Armor, with one sword in each hand.

Another factor to bear in mind is that Lucy had opened so many Gates for a rather long amount of time. Gemini tried to hold off Kagura for as long as possible but now with Lucy facing Jura there is no way they can continue this fight much longer. Lucy, after all, needs now all her strength to fight this strong opponent.

Lucy takes a few seconds to communicate with Gemini, allowing them to use more of her magic to land one powerful attack on Kagura to weaken her.

"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"

To the surprise of everyone, even Erza, Gemini is able to pull this move through. In front of Kagura stands Gemini-Erza in all her scary glory.

"I don't have much time left, but my Princess allowed me to try this out.", Gemini-Erza smirks, showing their own character since Erza would never smirk like that, and while speaking requips five more swords to her side.

Now she has out seven swords, six of them circling around her. Normally she would have called out more swords, knowing that Lucy has enough magic for that, but there is still the need to save as much magic as possible while still dealing out as much damage to Kagura as possible.

"Dance, My Swords!", with that command the six circling swords begins to get faster while spinning around her until all you can see is a blue-with light instead of the actual swords.

Almost everyone seeing this recognizes this move from Erza, and all know that this is a rather strong attack. Kagura, of course, too recognizes this attack and know that she should avoid this attack if possible. Yes it would not end the fight for her but it would still greatly damage her.

Both get ready. Kagura to dodge the swords and to maybe land her own attack. Gemini-Erza to launch the swords at Kagura.

One downswing with the sword in her hands starts the attack. The swords fly at Kagura in a disc formation at fast speed.

Kagura herself had closed her eyes until know, reading herself to move. She feels as the swords comes towards her and starts her own attack at Gemini-Erza. She dodges sword after sword, all of them dealing great damage to the area around them upon impact.

Gemini watches this, not moving from her place, waiting for Kagura to approach her and attack herself.

Too late Kagura notices that one of the swords she already dodged changed directions again to circle back to her. The sword would have hit her right arm, probably leaving her unable to use her sword efficiently, if she wouldn't have twisted away in the last moment and having her left arm hit instead.

She cries out in pain but spins further around to at least land her own attack against the Spirit. Before she can turn fully one sword slices her right thigh, leaving her again to cry out in pain. Luckily this cut wasn't as deep as the one in her arm and so she continues to turn and deal out her own attack.

But there was no Erza she could attack. Moving up and down in front of the Mage is Gemini in their normal form, "That was fun! But we need to go back now!", and with one last giggle and wink they return to the Spirit World.

* * *

"It seems as if Lucy has asked her Spirits to return to conserve her magic. Magic she really needs to have a chance in the oncoming battle against Jura. But still, this last attack against Kagura would have cost her a lot of magic, why do you think she did something like that even though she is facing off against Jura?", Chapati asks turning to look at Yajima.

"Well, I can only guess but maybe Lucy thought that it would be a good idea to weaken Kagura as much as possible since she knows that she could be a possible opponent if she can beat Jura. And even if Lucy isn't able to beat Jura, there are still all the other members of her Team left and who ever has to face off against Kagura will have it a little easier with these injuries.", he answers.

"That sounds logical. But do you believe that Lucy really has a chance to win against Jura? I know we all clearly remember their fight during the battles but at this time Lucy hadn't used as much magic as she already has used now.", Chapati continues his musings.

"I can only say that to get an answer for this we will have to wait and see for ourselves. Lucy has some good Spirits to call out in her fight against Jura, but nobody knows how long she will be able to continue fighting with how much magic she has already used and don't to forget, Jura himself didn't use much magic until now.", Yajima replies.

"Then let's wait and find out ourselves. I believe that everyone hear is eager to see this fight! But we shouldn't forget that there are other interesting fights going on as well. Who will win in the match of Lightning, the God or the Dragon Slayer? And what is the rest of the Fairy Tail Team doing right now? It looks as if they have a destination in mind to where they all are running. And where are Lyon and Sherria, the other remaining members from Lamia Scale.", Chapati shouts into his mike.

It seems that for the moment everyone has forgotten about Sting who is still in the fight. But only shows himself in short amount of times and who hasn't really fought until now.

No Sting has his own plans. After all he has to beat Fairy Tail to get his friend back and when he can win the Games while doing so that is only a bonus. He can clearly remember what Minerva told him and her cruel face while doing so.

* * *

Somewhere else someone freezes in his motion when hearing that Lucy has to face off against Jura.

This one second is enough for his opponent to land a powerful lightning charged fist to his chin, leading him to stumble back a few steps.

 _"Shit! I need to concentrate! I need to get to Lucy! I need to protect, no, to help her! She wouldn't like it when I just protect her..."_ , Laxus thinks to himself before reading himself to continue with his fight.

Until now he had the upper hand, even if only by a little, in their fight. But this one second of being distracted gave Orga the perfect chance to turn the tables and now lead the fight, while Laxus is trying to get back into it.

Orga is able to land a few more powerful kicks and punches before Laxus' sole concentration for the moment is back on the fight.

 _"I need to end this fast and conserve as much magic as possible!"_

* * *

In the meantime Juvia speeds up to get to her meeting point with Mira and maybe even Gajeel.

Gajeel next destination or target is Lyon, but Juvia has the feeling that Lyon will meet up Sherria. And since Sherria is her and Mira's next opponent, it could well be that they will meet up soon.

In her haste to get to Mira and away from Sherria for now, she doesn't notice that Sting is silently following her.

With his heightened senses, Sting notices that Mira isn't to far away and moving in the same direction as his current target. Another thing he notices is that the Iron Dragon Slayer is heading in that same direction, following Lyon. Of course he know that the little God Slayer is not too far behind him, following Juvia too, but he plans to take her out quickly and then get away before the other Slayer can catch up to him.

When he realizes that the Water Mage is slowing down, seemingly nearing her destination, he attacks.

* * *

"Open, Cepheus!", up until Lucy has started the fight against Jura just as she did during their battle on the first day. Of course she knows that she can't win like this, especially since it seems that Jura is giving it his all from the beginning on but she needs to conserve her magic and to stall some time. The time Laxus needs to finish his own fight, she has no doubts that he will win, and come help her.

"Ah, I remember, the Earthen King. It seems that we can finally start the real battle?", Jura states excitedly.

"Yes, it seems that I have no other option!", Lucy answers grimly.

 _"At least Cepheus is only a Silver Key. Even though in a battle against Jura he is almost as strong as a Gold Key he doesn't cost me as much magic. I really need to be careful with how much magic I use now or I will reach my Second Origin very soon. As far as I know nobody, besides Laxus and the members from Raven Tail, know that I have my Second Origin, so I should try to hold it back as long as possible. I have this strong feeling that I will need it later..."_ , Lucy muses to herself while she lets Cepheus fight against Jura.

Normally she would never let her Spirit fight alone, this always makes her think that she uses them as shields, she wants to fight at their side but Cepheus asked to test his abilities alone against this strong Earth Mage.

Their fight is similar to the one they had during their first battle. Rock Pillars are thrown back and forth between them, both testing out the control the other has over the earth. From time to time they would attack from another direction, while still sending the Rock Pillar back, hoping that the other is distracted enough with reflecting the Pillars. But so far none of them fell for this trick.

There are more and more Pillars flying back and forth between them.

Neither of them has moved an inch since the fight started, both solely concentrated on the Earth and their fight.

The heads of the spectators in the arena, who are watching this fight on the Lacrima-TV, are moving back and forth. All are following the movement of the Earth between Spirit and Mage with their mouths agape. Such a strong control over the Earth is really astounding, being able to control this much Earth at the same time and still attacking from time to time makes it even greater.

From time to time Jura would send one of his Pillars in Lucy's direction but Cepheus always redirects them. Even if he isn't able to redirect one of these Pillars in time, Lucy just moves to the side with her speed.

Both Spirit and Earth Mage are slowly bored with this show of their control and they begin to try out other attacks.

Jura sends in a rapid sequence his Rock Avalanche and Iron Rock Fist along with some Iron Rock Spikes, which he partly lets explode when they near either Lucy or her Spirit.

This torrent of attacks shows to be to much for the Spirit, he isn't able to control all of this magic at the same time since they all have different forms and speed. Cepheus is able to cast an Earth Shield around himself, blocking most of the brunt attack but he wasn't fast enough to cast one around Lucy too.

Lucy is left to once again use her speed and strength to avoid the attack. She spins, jumps and ducks around their battle area, performing a somewhat beautiful dance while moving around. And all the while pulverizing some of the Rocks, leaving only dust behind.

Even though it seems as if she is moving gracefully between all these attacks she can't dodge all of them, it's more like in the moment she doesn't really notices it when she is hit, to engrossed in her little dance.

Of course Cepheus sends some of his own attack at Jura, while he is still protected from his Earth Shield and knows that Lucy can do on her own for now. He lets appear Spikes all around from the ground, bringing Jura to move from his spot to avoid being hit from below him, along with the Spikes he lets appear several holes all around their battle field, knowing exactly where Lucy is so he doesn't trap her in one of these. Of course he too knows where Jura stands as long as he touches the Earth, after all he can feel him through his connection to the Earth.

* * *

"Mira? Where is Juvia? Shouldn't she be here with you?", Gajeel asks when he reaches the meeting point Juvia and Mira were supposed to be.

"That I would like to know too... Maybe she...", but Mira is interrupted before she can finish. "And Juvia from Fairy Tail is down! One more point for Sabertooth thanks to Sting!", Mato yells in his mike.

"Yes, it seems as if he catched her by surprise. Juvia didn't really had a chance against him from the moment he first attacked her. Still, even after this strong attack, when most wouldn't be able to continue fighting, she gave everything and fought back. The Fairy Tail Mages are truly remarkable!", Chapati adds.

"Well, I guess that answers our question why Juvia isn't here. I have a feeling we should watch out for sneak attacks from Sting too. You should be able to detect him with your senses or not, Gajeel?", he nods, "Then maybe we should build a Team to fight Lyon and Sherria next."

"Yeah, maybe that's for the best. I want to beat someone up and I can't wait to beat this Sting up for sneaking up on Juvia! Gihi!"

"Before that you have to win against us!", Lyon states as he and Sherria moves around a corner to stand opposite to them.

"Don't worry, we will!", Mira smirks evilly before turning into her Satan Soul.

* * *

"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Roaring Thunder!"

"Lightning God's Charged Particle Cannon!"

All around Crocus a booming crash is heard, followed by a huge explosion of black and yellow lightning which you can see even without the Lacrima-TV. In fact, this electric explosion was to strong for the Lacrimas, destroying all of them near the explosion and leaves every body anxiously to see how this ended.

* * *

It was harder to fight against Lyon and Sherria than Gajeel and Mira thought. What makes it even harder is that the Mages from Lamia Scale are much better in fighting as a Team than Mira and Gajeel.

Too concentrated on the fight and doing his best to not interfere Mira in her own attacks he detects Sting too late. His shouted, "Mira, move!", came to late. And Mira who had just dodged an attack from Sherria is hit by Sting's White Dragon's Claw, leaving Mira motionless for the moment.

Yes with her own poison she could remove the Stigma and that is exactly what she does but she isn't fast enough. Sherria who remembers this attack from the Battles uses this to her own and attacks with Sky God's Boreas, hoping to take her out while she can't move. The attack hits her and sends Mira flying through the air but because she could move a little again, she wasn't hit with the full brunt of this attack, leaving her able to continue to fight.

Sting, who after hitting Mira hid again, sees that Mira isn't down and attacks again, this time with Holy Ray. An attack that is just the right one to defeat Mira in her weakened state, furthermore her Demons didn't like this Holy Light at all and such ending the Takeover.

Now Gajeel has to face off against three opponents at the same time or for the moment two, since Sting has left the fight to watch from a safe place again.

* * *

"Sorry that it took me so long to get her.", Laxus apologizes the moment he lands next to Lucy with a loud crash, destroying some of the Rocks which were about to hit her. Something he didn't even notice, in his own happiness to see her safe again. He would prefer nothing more than to pull her into his arms to reassure himself even more but that would probably not be very advantageous in the current situation. Instead he looks her up and down, searching for any severe injuries and sighs out in relieve when he finds no serious ones.

"Just in time I would say, it won't be long before I have to open my Second Origin again.", Lucy responses quietly while smiling up at him, immediately feeling save with him beside her. She too, would like nothing more than to throw herself into his arms but stops herself from doing so when she remembers where they are and why they are here.

Her smile warms his heart and he can only respond with his own smile before an attack from Jura forces them to focus back on the fight.

* * *

"It seems that the Battle is slowly coming to an end, let's look at the current points and who is left to fight. Fairy Tail is in the lead with thirteen points. Second is Sabertooth with seven points and close behind them Lamia Scale with five points. The only other Guild still in the run is Mermaid Heel with only one point and only one member left to fight.", Chapati starts.

"Yes, but we shouldn't forget that Kagura is a strong opponent and that she had some time to rest while the rest was fighting.", Yajima interjects.

"Kagura's strength really isn't something we should easily forget, you are right with this Yajima. It seems that from each Team that is still fighting the Leader is still in the Game. That means we still have a lot of points left to gain. If Sting is able to continue his prior way of gaining points he too has a great chance to still win this. Or what do you think, Yajima?"

"You might be right with that, Chapati. His plan of action to pick out single Mages and attack them when they least expect it saves him a lot of magic for fights where he doesn't get the chance to land a surprise attack.", Yajima states.

"Oh, it seems that Sting just landed another one of these surprise attacks. It seems that this time Gajeel from Fairy Tail was his target. But I must say, that it does surprise me that he only attack Gajeel and Mira in this fight, he had many chances to attack the Lyon and Sherria too, but apparently his sole focus was on defeating the Fairy Tail Mages.", Chapati comments.

"I didn't notice this but it seems that you are right once again. If he continues with that pattern his next target would be Lucy and Laxus, lets wait and see if he goes after them!"

* * *

Currently Lucy and Laxus are behind one of Cepheus Rock Walls, to take a breath when they hear this announcement.

"Laxus? I believe we have to do it now. I don't think that we have another choice if we want to win."

"I think you are right. I have this feeling that the rest will go after us first before fighting against each other. And we really don't have a chance without it to win. Somehow Sting did nothing like the First predicted, I wonder how that comes...", Laxus muses.

"I don't know but maybe it has something to do with the little exceed I found after defeating Minerva... Well no matter what, we don't have time to think about it! We need to do it now!", she shakes her head to focus again.

Laxus nods, opens his arms for Lucy to step in his embrace and then teleports them away from this fight. He lands on a high rooftop somewhere in the middle between all other contestants.

"Second Origin: Release!" Immediately Lucy straightens up, feeling completely refreshed and full of magic again.

Feeling much better, Lucy turns back to Laxus and flashes him a wicked smirk, "Do you want to eat a little before we start?"

"Very much so, your lightning is the best!", Laxus flashes his own smirk.

Aquila appears and once again throws his lightning at Laxus, to replenish his magic.

After that Lucy holds her hand out for Laxus to take and they both face the heaven before beginning to speak together.

"Survey the Heavens,  
Open the Heavens..."

Jura, who was to focused on his Battle with Cepheus, only now realizes that Lucy and Laxus are not longer there when Cepheus disappears and he can feel the increase of magic pressure somewhere to his right.  
The other Mages notices this too and all of them change their direction to now head to this pressure.  
For now they are all still to far away to hear Lucy and Laxus.

"All the heavenly bodies, far and wide...  
Stars and Lightning...  
Show me thy appearance...  
With shine and thunder."

Sting is the first to hear this with his Dragon hearing. And it sounds like something he has already heard at one point, he stops shortly to think about it and then realization hits him. The different wording had him confused a little but then he begins to sprint in Lucy's and Laxus' direction again, knowing that he has to stop this.  
Even if the others aren't able to hear what they cast, they can feel the still increasing magic pressure. They too, speed up.

"Oh Tetrabiblos...  
Oh Eltanin...  
We are the rulers of the stars and lightning... "

Along with the still increasing magic pressure the huge magic circle beneath them starts to glow golden with flashes of lightning all around them.  
By now everyone is able to hear Lucy and Laxus, their voices resounding all around Crocus.  
The other Mages realizes that they need to stop this now. All of them, who can, throw different attacks at them but the lightning destroys the attack before it can reach Lucy and Laxus.

"Aspect become complete...  
Open thy malevolent gate."

The glow around them becomes brighter and brighter. The small lightning strikes bigger and the following thunder louder.  
The spectators in the arena are once again left in complete awe at this spectacle.  
Most of the Mages who are already defeated, and so won't be hit by this attack, are rather happy that they are out and won't get hit by this attack.  
By no everyone has realized that this will be the strongest attack all of them have seen in these Games, or maybe even in general.

"Oh 88 Stars of the heaven and lightning...  
Shine!"

They open their eyes together but instead of only the golden magic circle, they have seen the last time Lucy used this spell, there are small sparks of lightning too.  
Again it seems as if the world has stopped. Again there are the spheres in different colors all around them but this time they are surrounded with lightning.  
Their opponents have stopped their sprint to created protecting walls around them.

"Lightning Urano Metria!"

The floating spheres surrounded with lightning zooms to Lucy and Laxus before all, at once, speed up and attack they remaining Mages.

Something neither of them have taken into account while creating their barriers is the added speed the spheres gained through the lightning.

So before Jura was able to set up as many Rock Walls as he wanted the first are already destroyed.

The first Mage defeated is Sting, because his light can do nothing against this form.

The next one is Kagura, who were able to stop a few of these spheres with her Gravity Magic. But in the end there were too many spheres too fast for her to stop.

Lyon and Sherria have erected different layers of ice and wind to protect them. And even if the wind was able to redirect some of the spheres and the ice to stop some of them they didn't stand much longer than Kagura.

The last one to go down is Jura, just as expected, his Rock Walls stopping most of the spheres but the added lightning moves further even after the sphere is destroyed. The lightning combines together, moving a little faster than the lightning-sphere and destroys wall after wall.

Shortly before the last wall is destroyed, he casts Rock Mountain as his last hope. The lightning moves around Jura's last defensive, leaving little cracks and weaken the Rock little by little while sphere after sphere crashes into him.

The last three spheres break through and strike Jura with full force.

There was probably never a time before were it was this quite in Crocus.

Everyone stares in awe and fright at the Lacrima-TV, everyone is happy that they weren't the ones to get hit by this attack. Every Mage fears for a time in the future were they might have to face off against these two. Over the Lacrima-TV they can still see the twitching bodies of the defeated Mages.

And then suddenly the silence is broken.

"We did it!", Lucy shouts and jumps into Laxus arms.

And the next moment the whole Fairy Tail booth breaks out of their daze and they, too, shout in joy over their victory.

* * *

 **Finally! Finally, the fighting is over! I never thought that it would take me this long, sorry again for that..**

 **I hope you enjoyed reading this Chapter. And my thanks to all of you who review my work, it always gives me a push to write faster!**

 **So another thing, this story is nearing its end with probably only two more Chapters left. I know some of you wanted to see this Mission-Date but from the moment I started to write this story I had this one ending in my mind. And I just can't bring myself to change that...**

 **But.. don't worry, I still plan on writing this Date for you, only that I will publish it as a Oneshot or in a small collections with other Oheshots I have in mind.**

 **I don't know how you think about it but find it rather sad that there apparently isn't a LaLu Week this year, so I thought I make my own week were I post my Oneshots.**

 **Until now I have three topics:**

 **1) Lost  
2) Directions  
3) Date (that won't be the actual one but you know what I mean)**

 **Maybe some of you have a idea what other topics I could take? If so, I would really appreciate it if you tell me about it, so that I have a full week (if something good comes to my mind) to post. Oh and tell me if you want me to name you in case I take your suggestion.**


	25. Question

Lucy stays a little longer in Laxus' arms than she normally would have with knowing that probably everyone is watching them over the Lacrima-TV, but at the moment she didn't care at all. She just feels so good in his arms, so save and protected, she could stay there for ever, especially with how exhausted she is after using this much magic during the battle.

Laxus feels the same way. Having Lucy there in his arms, where he knows that she is save, feels like heaven. So he tightens his arms around her und buries his nose in her hair, breathing in her scent to calm down his still raging inner Dragon.

Above the roaring crowd and partying Fairy Tail comes the final announcement, "And the winner of this year's Grand Magic Games is Fairy Tail! And with that Fairy Tail is once again after seven years back in their former place as the strongest Guild!" At this all of Fairy Tail breaks out in an even louder cheer than before, drowning out what was said last for everyone inside the arena.

Lucy and Laxus heard.

And Lucy, who wasn't in Laxus' arms anymore, blushes the moment an idea pops up inside her head. She turns her head to look at him, considering if she should go through with her idea, and if so, now or later, or not.

But sadly there wasn't really a chance for her. The moment she wanted to open her mouth they were suddenly teleported back to the arena.

"And here are the winners!", along with Lucy and Laxus the remaining members from their Team were teleported to a podium with the other Teams around them.

Another second later Lucy spots the rest from Fairy Tail jumping down from the booth, run to them only to be thrown in the air while they partied their win. The other Guilds partied with them, even Sting came to thank Lucy for bringen Lector to safety.

An hour later they were finally able to start their way back to the rooms, the prior announcement almost none heard was repeated and suddenly a hectic broke out, leading to most of the mages hurrying away to prepare.

Lucy and Laxus are trotting a little behind the rest of the time, still feeling the exhaustion from the battle. Lucy again contemplating her previous idea.

Coming to a conclusion, Lucy gathers als her courage, turns to Laxus and stops him with her hand on his arm, "Hey, Laxus, would you li..."

"There you are! Lucy we need to get going or all the good ones are already sold! Hurry, hurry!", Mira drags her away from Laxus, not having noticed or completely ignoring the atmosphere, into their room. There she tosses Lucy some clothes to change, shoves her in the bathroom only to pull her out seconds later with some random clothes on, next she practically throws Lucy her bag and money and then drags her out of the room along with Cana and Juvia.

During all this, Laxus stood practically frozen in his spot in front of the door. When he finally wakes from his stupor it's too late and all he can see is Lucy pulled around a corner with a rather sad look on her face. Seeing this all he wanted to do was follow and take her back, damn he wanted to know what Lucy wanted to ask!

But he didn't have much of a choice since only moments later he too was pulled away into the madness that is called shopping. Not that he or the other guys there really wanted to but Master Makarov came to their room and demanded that they buy some good looking suits. He wanted them to look their best this night, especially the winning Team, they after all present their Guild. That's why he gave them, Laxus and Gajeel, along with the Girls some extra money, after all with winning the prize money they now had a little they could spend.

And of course there is another reason for all this, Master had sense the mood between Lucy and Laxus and he wants his grandson to finally settle down with her. Hoping that when they see each other looking stunning, they couldn't stop themselves and make him some great-grandchild, the more the better.

* * *

Outside Lucy was dragged from store to store, having to try one dress after another but none seemed fitting. Either she was happy and thought it looked pretty good on her but still had something lacking or the other girls just gave her something ridiculous and all having a good laugh.

All this distracts her quite well, but still, she can't stop thinking about her question and hoping that she will get another chance to finally ask Laxus that one.

On their way they meet some other girls from different Guilds, even some from Fairy Tail but Mira firmly sticks to her opinion of them shopping only with the Girls from Team B.

Juvia is the first one who finds her ballgown. At the bottom it is a deep sea blue and gets lighter to the top. Her arms are covered with dark blue lace, connecting with the dress and leaving the most of her back bare.

The next is Cana, buying herself a deep burgundy dress, with some white lace hemming the bottom, sleeves and around her wide neckline.

Mira's red gown is rather daring. It's strapless and tight to below her hips, where it widens and has a long cut at the front of her right leg up to her thigh where the dress tightens.

And finally Lucy finds a dress for herself, at a point were she was about to give up and just buy the next fitting one. But her Girls convinced her to try on one last and she can only stare at herself in the mirror, mouth wide open in awe at the beautiful dress. And without much thinking about it or the price she just buys it, something she normally would have never done but with the added money from Master and the given occasion all her normal worries are gone. And the dress really is far to beautiful to not buy.

Having found a dress for all of them Lucy just wants to get back to their room, hoping that Laxus is there and she finally gets to ask her question.

But again Mira and the other Girls had other plans.

Next step in action to become the most beautiful Girls this night, they searched for shoes, something Luc completely forgot she needed, and jewellery.

* * *

Laxus waited.

He waited a rather long time in their hotel room. Desperately wanting Lucy to get back.

He really wanted to know what she wanted to ask and he had a question himself for her. And his own question made him fucking nervous. At first he calmly sat in a chair, then he flopped down in his bed with his headphones over his ears. When that didn't help anymore he changed to Lucy's bed, her scent calming him enough at first.

But soon even that didn't help anymore, and he knew that the Gajeel probably could come back any minute now, so he started pacing in the room.

Time passed by and no sight of Lucy or the other Girls. Gajeel came and left again in his own suit, remembering Laxus that Master wanted them to be on time, so doesn't have a lot of time before he too should leave.

Changing in his suit he delayed as long as possible but slowly he had no other choice but to get going if he didn't want to anger his Gramps. He has convinced himself that the Girls are just getting ready somewhere else, because otherwise he, and his dragon, would probably have gone crazy from worry.

After being changed and some pacing in the room, Laxus has no other choice but to get going, if he want or not. All he can hope for is to meet Lucy on his way or in front of the place their are supposed to be any moment.

And his hopes are high, after all he really really wants to hear Lucy's question. And more so, he has a question to ask himself. So having a sad sigh he makes his way to the palace.

* * *

Laxus didn't know how right he was with his assumption.

Having bought anything they needed Lucy finally wanted to go back to their room, her hopes decreasing the longer they are away. And she really desperately wants to ask this question.

But the Girls have other plans once again. Cana saw a spa on their way back to the room and suggests that they can get pampered a little and enjoy the remaining of the day. And not only that but the moment the owner saw who they are she tells them that they can get ready there from head to toe for free, in hopes that they would speak good about her shop and attract more customers in the future.

So Lucy really had no other choice but to go with them and waste more time before she has a chance to ask Laxus, cause no one sane and wanting to live would go against a Mira in this mood.

And so Lucy prays, prays that she still gets the chance to ask her question, having a desperate need to ask this one question. And to find out to what this question could lead, either it will crush her or fill her with more happiness then she probably ever had felt.

It isn't as if she didn't have any fun during this time with the Girls or as if she didn't enjoy the pampering in the spa, but the question is much more important to her at the moment.

So the moment they are finished and on their way to their room to leave their things there, Lucy sets a fast pace and hurries there, still hoping to catch Laxus. That, even though she knows that they are too late because the makeup and hair took a little longer than they anticipated. She can only guess, but there is the big possibility that Master wants especially his grandson to be there on time.

And so the moment they arrive at the hotel her hopes crash, only a little remaining, hoping to maybe catch him before he enters the palace.

Again she sets a fast pace for the other Girls, desperately clinging to that little hope.

But no, no Laxus on their way and no Laxus in front of the palace, meaning it's too late for her question. Remaining is that little part inside of her that hopes that she can still asks this, changing the question only a little.

So with no other choice but to enter with the Girls and once again cling to her hope, she steps inside of the palace with the three Girls surrounding her.

* * *

 **Yeah.. I know.. this isn't very long and took so long to finally be uploaded. But well we had some problems with out internet these last days (a few days no internet at all and on others it was suddenly gone for a while), so I really had no choice but to wait with posting this.**

 **And this is more of a transition chapter than anything else.**

 **Stay tuned and wait for the final Chapter! What do you thing is going to happen?**


	26. The Ball

Standing on top of the stairs with the other Girls, Lucy takes a deep breath before letting her gaze wander through the room. Her eyes searching for Laxus. Finding him she immediately regrets searching for him. There he stands, Girls crowding around him and two latched to his arms, with his back to her.

Her heart breaks.

Questions like, would that be her on his arm if she could have asked her question and would she be the only one or would she still have entered the room to the same scene even if she had asked him, runs through her mind. And she wishes for nothing more than to leave and curl up in her bed. Seeing as she really has no chance to do just this, she straightens her back and raises her chin a little, forcing a bright smile to appear she takes the first step down, pulling her friends along with her.

"Come on lets have fun! We need to show off our new dresses and take the breath away from everyone who sees us!", Lucy smirks at her friends, doing her best to distract herself from the view of Laxus with other women. The others only smirk back at her, even Juvia who plans to swipe Gray of his feet with her new dress and hairstyle.

It's as if Laxus heard her because the moment she spoke he began to turn to look at her.

Seeing her Laxus is floored. Never before had he seen someone this beautiful and alluring. She looks like a goddess coming directly from the stars in her dress. It is tight fitting but still made of a flowing, soft fabric. The dress is a night sky blue with little golden flecks. From her waist on upwards the gold becomes more until its only gold around her breasts. It has small golden shoulder straps in gold and lace, almost see-through.

She only wears light makeup and her hair is up in a bun with soft curls framing her face.

If that wasn't enough she turns around when someone calls her from behind and Laxus' world stops.

Her back, well there isn't really a back to the dress. It's backless almost down to her ass, giving Laxus and everyone else a beautiful and mouthwatering view.

He doesn't manage to tear his eyes off her. Even forgets the annoying women who clung to him as soon as he arrived, even though he's been trying to get rid of them the whole time. Now looking at Lucy he has only her in his mind, nothing and nobody else. He doesn't know if it is too late but he still has a question to ask her.

Looking at her closely he realizes that her smile seems a bit fake and he asks himself why that is.

The moment her feet touch the floor he moves to go to her, that is the moment he remembers the other women. His face, prior full of awe and a little blush, turns to a face of annoyance. Lips pulled down and eyebrows scrunched.

Lucy, who noticed his gaze, looks back at him, but it was only seconds too late. He again had turned to the women to tell them that he wants them to leave, so Lucy didn't see his annoyance for the women and instead him with his back turned to her again talking with other women.

Finally free Laxus turns back around to go to Lucy, to the only woman he wants to spend this Ball with, but she wasn't there any more.

Looking around he spots her walking away from him. His heart hurts. His inner Dragon growls at him to do something. But he is frozen in his place, with no idea what to do or why Lucy is going away from him.

A single tear falls down from his left eye without him realizing it. His inner Dragon whines.

Another thing he doesn't know, Lucy has the same tear dropping from her eye.

Even though both are heartbroken at the moment, deeply hurt because the other turned away, they both have only one thing in mind; The other person.

In this moment Lucy finally realizes how much she loves Laxus. And that too, is the moment when she decides to do everything possible to be together with him, be it today or another day in the future.

Laxus comes to the same conclusion, knowing that for him there will ever only be her. He just has to convince her that he is perfect for her and how much he loves her.

With that goal in mind both blondes gain a little of their hope back. From that moment on both constantly seek out the other, without the other noticing it, not able to stop looking at the other.

Each time Lucy sees some women around him, and every time her hope lessens a little again. But after some time she realizes that Laxus isn't the one to seek out other women. It's just that they come to him on their own. And the first time she sees his face when once again a woman clings to him, her heart leaps in hope. She detects the annoyance in his eyes, catches how he looks at the woman on his arm, who is trying to lead him to the dance floor. Seeing that he looks at every women this way gives her more hope, hoping that it's not because of the dancing part but because of the women that he looks like he wants to vanish from the spot.

Laxus on his part is annoyed to no end. Women constantly come to him, sometimes several at a time, who want to persuade him to dance. But there's only one he wants to dance with, and that's Lucy. He too, is annoyed to see that there are several males who apparently wants to ask her to dance. So far, none of them have done so. Lucy is still surrounded by her three Girls, and without them knowing they act as a sort of protection against males.

The first to leave the group is Juvia, in search for her Gray-sama. Lucy and the others keep their fingers crossed for her to find him and assure her once again how beautiful and hot she looks in her dress and how perfect the new hairstyle is for her.

The next to leave is Cana. Bacchus invites her to dance and she happily agrees. They don't stay long on the dance floor, they both long for a drink after only one dance and so they make their way to the bar. There the drinking starts, only interrupted with some dancing in between. It seems Cana has finally found the one person who can keep up with her or even drink more than her.

With only the two of them remaining, Lucy and Mira make their way to the banquet, making a plate with delicious looking food, and then they make their way to an empty table. Lucy sits down while Mira goes to fetch them something to drink from the bar. The moment Lucy is left alone, the first male starts to make his way to her, intending on asking her to dance with him. Seeing this Laxus can't stop the growl rumbling from his chest, luckily no one heard it, and he starts to make his way to her, fully intending to just grab Lucy and take her away. Hearing Lucy's rejection, he calms down a little and stops walking to her.

He knows, as much as he wants to, just grabbing Lucy and taking her away wouldn't end good for him. Lucy hates behavior like that. So he withdraws again to consider how he can approach her.

Laxus goes out to the balcony, needing some fresh air and to get away from all the women who wants or more like demands to dance with him. Leaning against the railing, he closes his eyes and breathes deeply, enjoying the silence for the moment. He leans his head in his neck and opens his eyes again. Immediately he notices how beautiful the night sky is, and it seems to him as if the stars sparkle more than usual. He is completely fascinated by the sight above him. Stars wherever you look and the sky a beautiful dark blue. It looks almost exactly like Lucy's dress, this thought brings him out of his dreams, because compared to Lucy the night sky seems plain to him. But still Lucy could have come straight down from up there, which would only fit with her magic coming from the stars.

Thinking about Lucy he suddenly detest the silence out there, he much more wants to hear Lucy's voice and laughter. He doesn't want to be alone under the stars, he wants her at his side in his arms, looking up there with him. He wants to show her this beautiful view, hoping she will smile upon seeing it. And so he turns abruptly around and goes back into the ballroom, fully intending on bringing Lucy out here.

* * *

Inside, Lucy is alone. Mira left only seconds ago to dance with someone from another Guild. Lucy, too, wants to dance but not with the males she feels looking at her or the ones who already tried asking her. No, there is only one person she wants to dance with, only one person she wants to spend this night with. With that thought in mind she stands up, full of determination, to find Laxus and finally ask her question or at least ask him for a dance, hoping that when she asks he won't give her the look she saw him giving all the other women who tried before her.

Thinking about it she realizes that hasn't seen him in some time, and so she makes her way trough the ballroom in her search for him. On her way she meets a few from her or other Guilds. Speaking here and there with them, but still with her goal in mind to find Laxus.

The most surprising she meets there would probably be Yukino. The Girl stands alone at the side, it seems she is a little frightened to really come in and party with the others, after all she is no longer part of a Guild. Seeing the Girl there all alone, she can't help herself, as her heart leaps out for the lone Girl, to go over and speak with her, hoping to help her in someway.

"Yukino, glad to see you again. How are you?", Lucy asks the now shy smiling Girl.

"I'm fine, Lucy-sama, just a bit overwhelmed with this many people. And I don't really know what I am doing here, I found the invitation in my new hotel room this afternoon. But there wasn't any hint as to who was it, and I'm not really sure what I am doing here...", comes the unsure answer.

Hearing this Lucy remembers her talk not to long ago with the Slayer Twins from Sabertooth. Sting came to her to thank her once again for saving Lector and Lector himself wanted to thank her. During their talk they told her a little about what happened in their Guild and that Sting is now the new Master. They talked a little more, with Lucy promising to talk to them again another time, and just as she turned around to continue her search for Laxus she heard Sting mutter something softly, "Where is she?". She remembers that she asked herself briefly who he meant but then forgot again, but now she suspects that it might have something to do with the Girl in front of her. Not wanting to get it wrong and maybe hurt the Girl even more, she after all was kicked out of the Guild, she leads her subtle in the direction of the two Slayers, all the while speaking with her about their Spirits.

"You came! You really came, Yukino!", Sting happily exclaims the moment he spots her walking with Lucy near them.

"Sting-sama...", the memory still fresh in her mind she backs away a little.

Just as she was about to turn and run away Sting was in front of her, bowing, Rouge on his other side. Even the two exceeds are bowing, but they didn't hold their bow very long, with a cried "Yukino!", both launch themselves in her arms, cuddling her and sobbing.

The other two were still bowing, "We are very sorry, Yukino. We know what we did is unforgivable, we should have helped you and not just watch as he did this to you! We apologize in the name of our Guild. Furthermore we would like to ask you for another chance to prove you that we can be better than that, that we can and will change. Jiemma and Minerva are no longer in our Guild and I am the new Master."

"Yes, we want to better ourselves. We want to be like Fairy Tail, a Guild that appreciates its members whether they're strong or not. We have come to realize that magical strength is not everything, that there are many different meanings to strength. I know that it was always your dream to be in Sabertooth, I hope it still is in someway, so as Sting already said, we would like for you to come back and help us to become the Guild you and everyone else can be proud of.", by now both are standing, smiling hopeful at the teary-eyed Celestial Mage.

Lucy is very touched by the words of the two and can't help but support them, hoping that Yukino will find her happiness, "Hey, Yukino, what do you thing about it? I know they hurt you deeply and maybe it is hard for you to once again enter the Guild, but I really think they want to better themselves. And I for one always think that everyone deserves a second chance, as long as they honestly want to change. I don't want to pressure you, it's your decision after all, but think good about it. I think I will leave you alone with them, you all can speak and see where this leads to. I hope you all will be happy in the end." Lucy smiles brightly at them, seeing the hope flare up in Yukino's eyes. Before she turns to leave she looks darkly at the two males and threatens, "I know you mean this honest, and really wish to change, but if you so much as hurt her in even the smallest way I will come to destroy you and take her with me!"

"We won't! We certainly won't!", both stammer.

"Thank you Lucy-sama, I will speak with them. Sabertooth really was my Dream Guild, so I really hope that we can make this work. And I think I really do want to join Sabertooth again.", now Yukino practically glows in happiness, along with the four members of Sabertooth.

Practically seeing the happiness rolling off of them in waves Lucy turns around to search for her own happiness and love.

* * *

Laxus on his search for Lucy is again constantly swarmed by other women. He speaks here and there with a few members of his Guild. Even with Orga, who asks for a friendly revenge in the future, something Laxus agrees to.

In his search he doesn't realize that he walks closer and closer to the dance floor, something all the women who wants to dance with him observe closely.

"Laxus, dance with me!", a brunette purrs in his right, while slipping her arm around his to pull him on the dance floor.

"No, dance with me. I'm a much better fit for you than this plain brunette!", comes from his left. He has to admit that this one is somewhat beautiful but once again plain in comparison to Lucy. And once again he can't help as the annoyance appears clearly visible on his face, something these women doesn't notice or just ignore.

"Sorry Ladies, but I am the one he going to dance with. He already promised me a dance, so you can just go away.", she says, hoping that he will play along and that she didn't do to far.

The moment he hears her voice all annoyance is gone, the only thing remaining is calmness and happiness. Even more so as he registers what she just said, she wants to dance with him, hoping that she really wants and not only says this to save him from those pushy women.

"Yes, sorry to say this. I promised to dance with her, only with her.", he emphasizes the last in hopes that they would get it and won't try again.

Lucy certainly hears this and hope blossoms in her chest, red dusting her cheeks. Before she can think more about this and the meaning behind his words h already took a hold of her hand and leads her on the dance floor. Now red dusting his cheeks too.

He turns Lucy to him, but looking away from her so she can't see his blush, what Lucy doesn't see because she is looking down at his chest with her bangs hiding her red face. Laxus lays his arms on her lower back, his hand touching the naked skin, sending a shiver down both their spines, and pulls her closer to him. His other hand gently grabs her right one, while she lays her left arm on his other.

Being in the right position to dance, perfectly at this moment a new song starts. A beautiful melody starts to waver around them and Laxus leads Lucy trough the different steps. They dance in perfect synchronization, as if they were one. They give themselves completely to this wonderful music and just dance, both still too ashamed to look at each other, but nevertheless they feel comfortable in each other's arms.

When their first song is over they just continue to dance, not noticing at all as it changes, but nevertheless they automatically adjust their dance steps to the new song. Both are too absorbed in the presence of the other to realize anything else around them.

After some time, having calmed their flaming cheeks and racing hearts a little, they begin to look at each other. At first still to shy to look in the eyes, but once the eyes interlock they can't look away again.

And so they remain, both looking deeply into each others eyes, a soft smile on their lips and still a little red dusting their cheeks. Laxus can't really stop himself, and to be honest he really doesn't want to, her pulls her even closer to his chest, in his arms. And Lucy does nothing to stop him from doing so.

They continue to dance, not saying anything, only basking in the presence of the other and savor this moment.

* * *

What feels like hours later, but was only a few dances, they leave the dance floor. Both are a little breathless from the dancing. Without the need to speak they agree to get something to drink and then Laxus leads her out to the balcony.

There they stand beside each other, sipping their drinks, and content in the peaceful atmosphere.

Sensing Lucy shiver because of the cold, he takes her glass and sets hers and his down on a table nearby, coming back he doesn't take his old position at her side but stands behind her, puts his arms around her and pulls Lucy against his warm chest. There she cuddles up to him, soaking up his warmth and leans her head back against his shoulder to look up into the night sky, breathing out a "Beautiful!", full of awe. Laxus whispers his approval, but he doesn't look up into the starry sky, but down to the woman, who holds his heart, in his arms.

"Hey, Laxus...", Lucy begins as she turns in his arms to look him in the eyes. But seeing the look in his eyes she forgets everything she wanted to say or ask, trapped in his eyes with all these emotions shining in them.

Like in trance she raises her arms and puts them in his neck, pulling herself closer to him. He, too, increases his pressure on her back to have her closer to him, mesmerized by the emotions he detects in her chocolate eyes.

Without them realizing it they lean in closer to each other.

There is so much to say between them. But during all this time they spend with each other, all the obstacles they've overcome, they learned to understand each other without the need to speak the words out loud.

No, each spoken word would have just ruined this precious moment between them.

They lean in closer and closer, Laxus bending his head down and Lucy standing on her tiptoes with her head angled up to him, lips almost touching and eyes still interlocked.

Both thinking about what future they could have, what could awaits them. Be it something good or something bad, they both know that from now on nothing will come between them.

Their eyes close and one last thought runs through both their minds; Their love will always win.

And finally their lips touch, in a sweet but still passionate kiss.

* * *

 **Soo... I'm sad to say it, but we've reached the last Chapter of Love wins.**

 **I still can't believe it. This story was originally only planed as a short story with only four or so Chapter, but then** **I had suddenly so much more to say here and it got longer and longer.**

 **I really came to love this story and it makes me sad to stop here, but I have the feeling that anything else I could write would destroy the story.**

 **You should know that this is the first ending for a story I have ever written so please don't be mad at me if this isn't how you wanted it to be. I have the feeling that I'm not really good at writing endings but I did my best to brings this story to a wonderful ending. And I must say I'm quite proud with myself... But please, any advise you have for me, for my future stories, I gladly take.**

 **With that, thanks to all of you who read this story. Thanks to all who commented!**

 **I hope to see and hear from you in my other stories too. And don't forget that I have a following oneshot for this story in my LaLu-week.**

 **Thanks again for all your support!**

 **Miyuki**


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